LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


l 


GIFT    OF 

A 


Ctes 


« 


Occidental  College 


BULLETIN 


No.    1 


NOVEMBER,  1906 


PUBLISHED  QUARTERLY  BY 

OCCIDENTAL  COLLEGE 

LOS  AKGELES,  CALIFORNIA 


THE 

INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 

DELIVERED   BY 

John  Willis  Baer,  LL.D 

WITH   OTHER 

«. 

ADDRESSES   AND    MESSAGES 
OF  CONGRATULATION 


COLLEGE  CAMPUS 


Qttober   Twenty-sixth 
1906 


I 

1 


UNIVERSITY 


ADDRESS   BY 

David    Starr   Jordan,    LL.    D., 

President  of  Iceland  Stanford  Junior  University 


we  get  through  this  morning,  we  are  going 
to  inaugurate  Dr.  Baer  as  president  of  a,  Califor- 
nia college.  We  are  going  to  put  him  securely  in  his  seat 
in  one  of  the  noblest  of  all  professions  in  the  affairs  of 
all  lands,  under  the  most  gracious  skies,  iru  the  midst  of 
the  most  noble  scenery,  with  plenty  of  elbow  room,  and 
among  red-blooded  people. 

He  has  a  great  and  'v  noble  task  before  him.  As  one  of 
the  two  talking  men  of  the  California  universities  of  the 
north,  I  am  to  represent  both  of  them1  in  a  way,  in  giv- 
ing Dr.  Baer  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  and  the  left 
hand  of  advice. 

It  is  customary  nowadays  to  divide  our  colleges  into 
two  classes,  —  the  large  college  and  the  small  college. 
The  large  college  is  the  one  that  has  aspirations  to  be 
a  university.  The  small  college  has  not  as  yet  such  as- 
pirations, although  they  may  very  easily  be  cultivated 
when  a  man  comes  along  with  the  right  sum  of  money. 
The  small  -college  has  had  its  advantages  and  its  dis- 
advantages, its  opportunities  and  its  perils,  discussed  a 
good  many  times;  and  it  has  plenty  of  all  these  things. 

Now,  your  college,  Dr.  Baer,  for  the  present  at  least, 
is  a  small  college.  Whether  it  is  large  or  small,  there 
is  one  important  consideration.  The  question  is  what 
you  are  going  to  do  with  it,  how  useful  you  are  going 
to  make  it.  A  small  college  is  a  very  noble  thing. 
Once  there  were  among  English  speaking  colleges  only 
small  colleges.  Oxford  and  Cambridge  yet  are  collec- 
tions o>f  small  colleges.  In  England,  the  university  is 
an  outgrowth  from  the  co-operation  of  small  colleges. 
In  America,  the  small  colleges  have  blossomed  out  into 
large  ones,  and  the  large  ones  have  grown  up  into  the 
university.  The  aim  of  the  small  college  is  to  do  good 


186990 


work  along-  chosen  lines,  and  select  the  things  it  can  do 
best  and  do  them  well.  The  university  is  an  institution 
that  reaches  out  in  every  direction  that  it  is  able  to 
reach.  It  does  work  in  a  great  many  lines.  A  college 
is  necessarily,  in  a  way,  conservative.  Its  work  .lies 
along  the  line  of  drill  and  routine.  A  university  is  es- 
sentially radical,  because  its  work  is  carried  on  through 
lines  of  investigation.  We  may  compare,  in  a  way,  a 
university  to  a  large  hotel,  with  a  very  extensive  bill  of 
fare  of  various  things.  You  read  down  through  this  and 
select  what  you  want.  A  college  ought  to  have  only  one 
set  of  dishes,  It  should  be  like  the  menu  or  bill  of  fare 
of  a  good  boarding  house;  and  a  good  boarding  house 
may  have  just  as  good  a  bill!  of  fare  as  a  great  hotel.  The 
only  question  is, — are  the  things  well  chosen,  are  they 
well  cooked ;  and  the  questions  with  the  small  college  will 
be, — are  the  subjects  which  it  chooses  to  teach  well 
selected,  and  are  they  well  taught. 

Now,  the  small  college  has  a  good  many  perils ;  but 
the  chief  ones  are  that  it  may  pretend  to  do  what  it  can- 
not do,  or  that  it  may  pretend  that  the  things  it  cannot 
do  are  not  worth  doing.  So  long  as  it  is  genuine  and  does 
well  the  things  it  tries,  the  question  of  large  or  small  size 
is  very  incidental. 

Tliere  are  other  perils  of  the  small  college,  and  one 
is  that  of  striving  to  catch  the  eye  in  one  way  or  an- 
other. Some  small  colleges,  for  instance,  have  had  great 
foot-ball  teams  which  were  carefully  selected  and  careful- 
ly hired  in  the  surrounding  country.  Now,  it  is  im- 
possible to  teach  ethics,  impossible  to  teach  morals  and 
religion,  in  a  college  that  has  a  dishonest  foot-ball  team. 
Sometimes  the  small  colleges  will  adopt  those  standards 
simply  for  the  sake  of  numbers;  but  numbers  don't  mat- 
ter— you  will  have  all  the  people  you  deserve.  If  you 
make  this  institution  what  it  ought  to  be,  even  though 
small,  an  institution  in  which  the  thing-s  that  are  selected 
are  taught  in  the  very  best  possible  way  and  by  the  very 
best  possible  men,  then  all  the  students  you  deserve  will 
come  to  you — even  though  they  have  to  come  on  foot 
across  the  mountains.  You  should  not  expect  a  student 


to  go  to  any  college,  if  he  can  do  better  somewhere  else. 
The  small  college  must  do  certain  things  better  than  they 
can  be  done  anywhere  else.  On  that  basis  you  will  surely 
have,  and  must  have,  all  the  students  that  you  deserve. 

Another  danger  of  the  small  college,  too,  is  in  cheap- 
ening its  men — not  giving  them  enough  to  eat,  paying 
them  small  salaries  in  order  that  there  may  be  money 
enough  to  hire  men  for  a  good  many  departments.  It  is 
better  that  the  small  college  should1  pay  generous  salaries. 
In  fact,  the  object  of  the  small  colleges  would  be  realized 
if  they  paid  as  large  salaries  as  the  large  colleges,  and 
were  able  to  take  men  from  the  large  ones.  There  is 
no  special  virtue  in  bigness,  or  in  being*  in  an  institution 
that  has  a  great  many  people  with  it.  The  question  is  in 
quality — what  the  student  gets  out  of  it.  The  advan- 
tages of  the  small  college  ought  to  be  worked'  for  all 
they  are  worth.  One  of  them  is  concentration,  the  pow- 
er to  throwi  the  whole  energy  of  the  institution  along  cer- 
tain very  definite  lines.  If  the  oM  classical  course  is 
the  best  line  of  work  possible  for  you,  then  teach  Latin 
and  Greek  in  the  best  possible  way  with  the  other  ele- 
ments that  made  up  the  classical  course  of  study.  If  you 
find  you  can  do  better  for  your  student  in  teaching  other 
things,  select  those  other  things.  But  it  is  not  necessary 
for  you  to  have  a  professor  for  every  subject  that  may 
be  mentioned.  It  is  not  necessary  for  the  small  college 
to  look  like  a  university  in  its  prospectus,  for  it  is  not 
a  university.  It  is  not  necessary  for  you  to  have  any  more 
teachers  than  you  can  pay  for;  let  those  you  have  be  so 
good  that  a  single  one  of  them  is  worth  the  time  of  the 
student — so  they  will  be  remembered  as  the  students  used 
to  remember  Mark  Hopkins.  There  have  been  many 
such  men  in  our  small  colleges,  and  there  may  be  many 
more;  you  may  have  some  of  them  in  Occidental  College 
now.  If  not,  it  is  your  business  Dr.  Baer  to  bring  them 
here. 

Another  point  is  this,  the  small  college  can  have  the 
enthusiasm  of  youth.  The  professors  in  the  small  col- 
lege, as  things  are  now,  ought  to  be  young  men — men 
in  the  making.  It  is  part  of  the  business  of  the  college 


president  to  get  acquainted  with  the  young"  men  of  the 
country  and  to  select  those  that  have  a  future — select 
those  that  have  enthusiasm  and  energy.  Those  who  are 
going  to  make  something — that  are  going  to  be  the  strong 
men  of  the  next  decade.  As  soon  as  your  young  men 
become  noted,  as  soon  as  they  raise  their  heads  high  and 
make  their  mark,  Stanford  and  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia will  doubtless  take  them  away  from  you,  and  then 
it  will  be  your  pleasure  to  go  out  and  hunt  for  more. 
I  can  imagine  nothing,  more  delightful  than  the  work  of 
the  college  president  in  going  out  and  hunting  for  more 
good  men  to  take  the  place  of  the  other  young  men  who 
have  been  carried  away  to  other  institutions — to  the 
universities. 

The  small  college  has  the  great  advantage  that  you 
can  know  all  the  students  by  name.  Knowing  them  by 
name  means  knowing  them  by  character,  knowing1  what 
they  need,  knowing  how  you  can  help  to1  make  true  men 
of  them.  It  is  a  very  great  advantage  to  be  able  to  get 
near  to  the  students.  The  value  of  any  teacher  dimin- 
ishes as  the  square  of  his  distance  increases,  A  very 
great  man  may  be  of  very  little  consequence  to*  the  stu- 
dents if  his  distance  from  him  is  SO'  great  that  the  square 
of  his  distance  has  diminished  their  knowledge  of  the 
character  and1  nature  of  the  man.  Knowing  students  by 
name  is  an  advantage,  a  very  great  advantage  of  the 
small  college.  Concentration,  enthusiasm  and  nearness 
to  the  student — those  are  the  great  advantages  that  you 
have,  Dr.  Baer,  over  Dr.  Wheeler  and  myself;  and  we 
are  doing  our  best  in  the  larger  institutions  to  equalize 
these  differences  in  order  that  we  may  be  on  a  level  with 
you  in  our  relations  to  our  students.  It  is  yours,  Dr. 
Baer,  to  give  Occidental  College  its  color,  and  tone,  its 
touch  of  personality.  This  is  the  function  of  the  college 
president.  This  is  because  it  is  his  duty  to  have  an 
ideal,  a  plan,  a  theory  of  the  future,  and  to  select  men 
that  make  this  ideal  good.  You  must  know  what  men 
can  do  to  bring  their  best  work.  That  is  what  a  college 
president  is  for.  It  doesn't  make  any  particular  differ- 
ence whether  you,  as  "talking  man"  o*f  Occidental  Col- 


lege,  talk  very  well  or. very  ill.  That  is  a  very  minor 
question.  It  doesn't  make  much  difference  whether  you 
write  much  or  little.  Those  things  may  have  a  certari 
value  to  the  college  or  to  the  public,  but  the  main  ques- 
tion lies  with  the  activities  of  the  men  you  choose  as 
the  college  faculty.  What  do  you  know  about  men,  and 
hows  can  you  size  up  these  enthusiastic  young  fellow^ 
east  and  west  and  get  the  very  best  work  that  is  possible 
out  of  them?  It  is  for  you  to  know  men  and  to  know 
their  powers.  It  is  for  you  to  be  patient,  and  locking 
beyond  the  conditions  of  this  year  and  the  years  that 
are  to  follow  cl'osely,  to  plan  a  long  time  ahead.  It  is 
for  you  to  foster  freedom  and  to  check  folly.  It  is  for 
you  to  develop  a  sound  moral  tone.  Giaracter  building- 
is  the  main  business  of^every  college  and  university.  It 
is  the  business  of  every  college  and  university  to  do 
things  as  they  ought  to  be  done,  to  think  things  as  they 
ought  to  be  thought,  to  act  straight,  because  they  think 
straight.  For  the  rest,  it  remains  for  you  to  arrange 
these  elements  in  your  college  so  that  the  building  up  of 
a  sound  character,  a  sound  citizenship,  and  the  attitude 
we  call  God-fearing,  will  be  the  final  result  oi  all  your 
work. 


ADDRESS    BY 

Benjamin  Ide  Wheeler,  LL.D. 

President-  of  the  University  of  California 

T  SUBSCRIBE  to  every  word  that  President  Jordan  has 
said,  and  I  lay  my  hands  on  top  of  his  to  give  the 
blessing-  to  the  inducted  president  of  the  day.  But  I  do 
want  to  give  you  just  a  word  of  greeting  from  your 
State  University.  The  State  University  welcomes  addi- 
tions to  the  list  of  good  colleges,  and  development  in 
the  life  of  any  of  them.  It  welcomes  colleges  where  sub- 
jects are  soundly  and  sanely  taught,  where  teachers  are 
men  of  character,  cleanness,  and  loftiness  of  spirit,  and 
where  the  fear  of  Godi  is  regarded  as  the  beginning  of 
wisdom. 

We  know  at  Berkeley,  just  as  well  as  you  know,  that 
a  man  who  does  not  live  the  religious  life  does  not  hal'f 
live,  and'  the  man  that  is  not  religiously  trained  is  not 
half  educated. 

The  State  University,  as  a  type  in  this  country,  is 
turning  toward  the  development  of  the  higher  work. 
The  sure  goal  of  the  State  University  is  the  fulfillment 
of  its  high  purpose  to  set  standards  in  the  midst  of  the 
community  and  to  advance  the  cause  of  finding  truth. 
Therefore,  the  State  University,  which  is  sure  with  the 
years  to  devote  itself  more  and  more  to  the  cultivation 
of  research  and  the  encouragement  of  special  lines  of 
education,  like  engineering,  architecture,  agriculture,  wel- 
comes with  fullness  of  heart  such  work  as  such  institu- 
tions as  this  are  sent  to-  do  and  can  best  do. 

There  is  at  this  time,  throughout  the  whole  country  a 
tji'de  setting  strongly  toward  the  development  of  the 
small  colleges.  We  believe,  those  of  us  who  have  had 
experience  with  them;  that  they  have  the  opportunity, 
more  distinctly  than  the  large  institutions,  of  recognizing 
howi  truly  education  is  a  matter  of  the  life  and  the  spirit, 
how  truly  the  progress  of  learning  throueh  the  civil iza- 


tions  is  a  handing  on  of  the  torch  from  man's  hand  to 
man's  hand,  how  truly  teaching  is  the  conveyance 
of  personal  inspiration.  Let  this  be  a  place  where  men 
shall  teach  who  shall  inspire  lives  and  make  character 
in  handing  on  the  torch. 

I  am  here  today  to  congratulate  you  on  your  new 
president,  and  to  pray  in  your  presence  and  with  you  that 
the  blessing  which  maketh  rich  may  descend  upon  Occi- 
dental College  and  the  work  within  it  of  President  Baer. 


ADDRESS    BY 

Rev.  George  F.  Bovard,  D.D. 

President  of  the  University  of  Southern  California 

r\  N  THIS  red-letter  day  for  Occidental  College,  I  bring 
to  you  cordial  greetings  from  the  University  of 
Southern  California. 

The  University  being  located  in  the  same  city  is 
Occidental's  nearest  neighbor  and  friendly  rival. 

The  institution  I  represent  does  not  undertake  to  do 
work  beyond  that  of  high  grade  college  work,  except 
in  a  few;  things.  The  larger  universities,  with  their 
more  extensive  equipment,  have  a  field  of  research  and 
investigation  into  which  we  do  not  pretend  to  enter. 

I  congratulate  Occidental  College  today  because  it  has 
succeeded  in  bringing  Dr.  Baer  to  its  presidency.  For 
this  act  it  merits  the  hearty  thanks  of  alii  lovers  of  truth 
arid  high  ideals  of  life.  My  congratulations,  therefore, 
are  not  limited  to  Occidental, '  but  extend  to  the  entire 
Pacific  Coast,  and  to  Southern  California  in  particular. 

We  are  accustomed  to  congratulate  ourselves  when  a 
man  of  large  means  and  public  spirit  selects  our  city,  or 
our  part  of  the  country  in  which  to  invest  his  millions 
of  dollars.  We  appreciate  the  power  of  money,  wisely 
invested,  to  develop  a  country.  We  could  not  well  get 
along  without  our  broad  minded,  public  spirited,  enter- 
prising men  of  means. 

President  Baer  comes,  not  to  invest  large  sums  of 
money  in  commercial  enterprises,  but  to  give  himself  to 
an  institution  whose  sole  object  is  to  develop  character, 
to  fit  young  men  and  young  women  for  the  widest  fields 
of  usefulness.  He  brings  to  this  coast  a  wealth  o-f  ex- 
perience in  leadership  among  young  people,  the  influence 
of  which  will  not  be  confined  to  Occidental's  constitu- 
ency, but  it  will  stimulate  other  leaders  in  Christian  edu^ 
cation1  to  greater  activity  in  this  broad  field  of  oppor- 
tunity. 

10 


We,  therefore,  bid  him  a  most  cordial  welcome. 

The  University  of  Southern  California  is  as  an  elder 
brother  to  Occidental  College.  It  is  large  enough  and 
generous  enough  in  its  attitude  toward  other  educational 
institutions  to  rejoice  in  the  prosperity  that  has  come 
to  Occidental.  And  I  am  sure  that  should  misfortune 
befall  any  'one  of  the  family  of  Colleges  and  Universities, 
the  University  of  Southern  California  would  regard  it 
as  a  misfortune  to  all. 

President  Baer,  accept  the  assurance  of  my  personal 
appreciationi  of  you,  and  of  the  work  you  have  done. 
We  are  co-laborers  in  positions  of  exalted  privileges, 
but  very  grave  responsibilities.  Mutual  helpfulness,  and 
good-fellowship  should  dominate  our  relation  to  each 
other. 

Again  congratulating  Occidental  College,  and  all 
Southern  California,  I  bid  you  God-speed. 


11 


ADDREvSS  BY 

Dean  E.  C.  Norton,  Ph.  D. 

Pomona  College 

T  T  is  a  very  simple  message  that  I  have  the  privilege 
of  bringing-  you  today  and  I  know  you  will  all  re- 
joice when  I  say  it  is  a  very  short  one  also,  but  none  the 
less  sincere  and  genuine.  Pomona  College  presents  through 
me  her  hearty  congratulations  on  the  cominp-  of  this  good 
day  and  this  good  man  to  Occidental.  We  trust  that  ail 
the  high  hopes  and  all  the  prophetic  visions  that  fill  your 
hearts  and  minds  today  will  speedily  become  visible  reali- 
ties— potent  factors  in  shaping  for  good  this  fair  part 
of  our  great  state,  yet  so  young  and  unformed,  but  with 
possibilities  of  a  noble  Christian  civilization,  beyond  our 
highest  thought.  I  like  to  think,  and  it  is  a  thought  to 
thrill  the  imaginiation  and  move  the  will,  that  here  in 
this  reserved  corner  of  our  great  nation,  this  most  beau- 
tiful spot  of  all,  there  may  yet  be  developed  a  type  of 
manhood  and  of  womanhood  better  than  that  which  we 
have  seen  before — men  and  women  as  joyous  and  sunny 
and  pure  as  our  on  southern  skies ;  in  conviction  and  will 
as  strong  as  these  everlasting  hills;  in  their  united  on- 
ward movement  as  irresistible  as  the  waves  of  the  great 
sea  by  which  we  live.  And  may  not  this  vision  become 
a  reality  if  only  the  forces  in  control  of  this  our  South- 
land may  soon  become  the  forces  of  truth  and  righteous- 
ness— if  only  our  young  men  and  maidens  come  to  know 
that  the  only  higher  civilization  into  which  they  may 
enter  is  first  of  all  that  of  the  will!  and  mind  and  heart—- 
if only  we  can  all  be  sure  that  it  is  simple  fact  our  good 
poet  sings, 

"The  forward  march  of  progress  beats 
To  that  grand  anthem,  calm  and  slow. 
Which  God  repeats." 

It  is  to  teach*  men  and  women  to  understand  and  love 

12 


to  keep  step  with  that  sort  of  progress  that  our  colleges 
primarily  exist.  Manifestly  then  between  institutions 
holding  in  any  deep  and  adequate  way  such  a  thought 
of  their  mission  there  can  be  no  room  for  petty  jealousy 
and  envy.  The  great  truths  for  which  we  all  stand  cover 
our  minor  differences  as  the  mighty  ocean  with  its  on- 
coming tide  makes  one  with  itself  the  pools  along  the 
shore. 

So  we  joy  in  your  joy  today.  We  are  glad  for  the 
new  hope  and  life  and  strength  that  come  to  you.  You 
can  never  take  a  forward  step  that  shall  not  call  us  to 
advance  also.  You  can  never  win  a  genuine  victory  that 
shall  not  be  our  honor  also.  You  can  never  do  work  so 
thoroughly,  so  honestly,  so  reverently  that  it  will  not 
bring-  us  nearer  the  ideal  which  we  set  before  us  as  a 
Christian  college.  And  so  from  the  college  that  is  near- 
est to  you,  I  think,  in  purpose  and  ideal,  I  bring  you 
today  congratulations  and  a  heartfelt  benediction. 

I  did  not  intend  to  offer  you  any  advice  but  I  cannot 
refrain  from  saying  that  excellent  as  were  the  suggestions 
of  President  Jordan  I  trust  you  will  not  follow  them  in 
one  particular.  You  can  never  build  up  an  institution 
by  letting  a  lot  of  youngsters  fill  your  professors'  chairs 
just  long  enough  to  learn  their  business  and  then  pass 
on  at  the  call'  O'f  some  university.  Get  men  of  the  very 
best  training-  of  mind  and  heart,  but  be  sure  that  they 
are  men  who  have  the  college  spirit,  who  believe  in  the 
sort  of  work  you  are  doing  and  believe  it  worth  the  gift 
of  their  lives.  Such  men  will  resist  all  the  temptations 
the  university  may  bring  to  bear  upon  them.  This  is 
the  way  to  build  a  college.  In  this  one  thing  I  think 
I  know  what  I  am  talking  about.  Bless  you. 


13 


ADDRESS    BY 

Prof.  Ernest  C.  Moore 

Superintendent  of  Los  Angeles  City  Schools 

T  T  is  a  curious  fact  in  the  evolution  of  what  we  are 
pleased  to  call  the  modern  school  system,  that  the 
universities  or  the  higher  departments  came  into  being  first 
Then  after  a  time  the  secondary  schools  came  into  be- 
ing. Then  after  a  time  the  elementary  schools  came 
into  being.  Then  after  a  time,  and  it  was  about  the 
same  time  in  each  case,  the  kindergartens  came  into  be- 
ing. But  these  different  parts  of  the  educational  family 
treated  each  other  as  the  members  of  some  quarrelsome 
families  do  today.  They  got  just  as  far  apart  as  they 
could,  and  for  many  generations  they  stayed  as  far  apart 
as  they  could.  At  first  the  universities  would  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  secondary  schools — who  hated  them  most 
uncordially;  and  the  secondary  schools  had  no  sympathy 
or  understanding  for  the  elementary  schools ;  and  it  is  well 
known  that  the  elementary  schools  have  not  at  all  times 
had  much  sympathy  for  the  kindergartens.  That  con- 
dition of  affairs — that  disunited  condition  of  affairs  ob- 
tained in  the  educational  family  for  a  long,  long  time.  I 
think  we  may  say  today  that  we  live  in  an  age  of  edu- 
cational integration,  an  age  in  wrhich  we  are  beginning  to 
form  a  solid  front,  an  age  in  which  kindergartens,  ele- 
mentary schools,  secondary  schools,  colleges  and  univer- 
sities are  coming  together,  in  order  to  bring  about  the 
prophecy  of  the  Master  of  us  all,  that  when  men  should 
know  the  truth,  they  should  at  length  be  free. 

And  so  I  have  great  joy  this  morning  in  welcoming 
Dr.  Baer  on  behalf  of  a  much  more  indefinite  constituency 
than  any  man  on  this  platform  represents,  I  think.  I 
know  not  in  whose  name  I  speak.  I  speak  in  the  name 
of  small  children  in  far-off  villages,  behind  mountains, 
shut  off  from  railroads,  in  California.  I  speak  in  the 
name  of  teachers  and  pupils  in  distant  district  schools. 

14 


I  speak  in  the  name  of  boys  and  girls  who  are  having 
a  hard  time  to  get  an  education  in  secondary  schools. 
I  welcome  you  in  the  name  of  thousands  of  them.  I 
wish  I  might  take  you  even  into  the  city  of  Los  Ange- 
les and  show  you  the  extent  o*f  the  educational  undertak- 
ing and  the  size  of  the  educational  family  there  that  you 
might  know,  as  you  never  knew  before,  perhaps,  what 
a  serious  and  what  a  tremendous  and  what  a  great 
and  wonderful  and  far-reaching  thing  this  education  that 
we  stand  for,  is  today.  I  wish  I  might  have  the  children 
in  the  elementary  schools  of  Los  Angeles  even,  not  in 
the  schools  of  California,,  but  even  of  this  one  commun- 
ity of  the  state,  moved  before  you  in  procession.  There 
are  thirty-four  thousand  of  them.  It  would  take  a  long 
time  for  you  to  see  them,  and  yet  the  work  that  they 
are  doing,  and  the  work  that  the  thousand  teachers  who 
are  instructing  them  are  doing — that  work  is  improved, 
is  bettered,  is  helped,  is  ennobled,  is  dignfied,  by  the  com- 
ing to  California  of  such  a  man  as  Dr.  Baer. 

It  is  said  in  the  good  Book  that  there  is  much  joy 
in  Heaven  over  the  conversion  of  one  sinner.  There  is 
also  much  joy  in  the  educational  family,  when  a  good 
man,  and  a  strone  man,  joins  forces  with  us;  and  on 
this  educational  feast-day,  it  is  indeed  a  pleasure  to 
welcome  him  here  and  to  congratulate  Occidental  Col- 
lege, Los  Angeles  City,  Southern  California,  and  the 
great  state  of  California  upon  his  presence;  and  I  think 
if  I  spoke  all  that  is  in  my  heart  at  the  present  time  I 
should  go  a  bit  further  and  say  we  congratulate  Dr.  Baer 
on  having  cast  in  his  lot  with  California, 


15 


ADDRESS    BY 

Rev.  Warren  D  More 

Moderator  of  the  Synod  of  California 

T  T  is  no  perfunctory  duty  but  a  great  deli  Hit,  and 
one  that  I  esteem  as  a  great  privilege,  to  bring  you 
the  greetings  of  the  Synod  of  California  and  in  the  name 
of  the  Presbyterians  of  California  and  Nevada  to  extend 
to  you  a  most  hearty  and  cordial  welcome.  As  you 
have  heard,  there  are  more  than  thirty  thousand  of  this 
family  scattered  over  the  territory  of  California  and  Ne- 
vada, and  these  people  of  this  Presbyterian  family  have 
had  their  vision,  a  vision  that  is  necessarily  associated 
with  yourself,  and  is  dependent  very  largely  upon  you 
for  its  realization;  and  that  vision  is  nothing  less  than  a 
Pacific  Princeton,  that  shall  shape  and  mold  the  thought 
and  the  life,  moral  and  spiritual,  of  this  whole  coast 
country. 

Improving  an  opportunity  that  came  to  me  very  re- 
cently in  the  meeting  of  the  Synod,  I  took  occasion  to 
ask  many  of  our  leaders  what  they  thought  of  our 
president.  The  question  that  I  asked  them  was  this, 
"Why  are  you  glad  to  have  Dr.  Baer  come  to  the  coast 
as  president  of  Occidental  College?"  And  there  was  a 
decided  uniformity  as  well  as  heartiness  in  the  answers 
to  that  question.  Out  of  those  answers  there  were  three 
that  include,  I  think,  the  whole;  and  the  first  was  this: 
"Because  of  the  expectancy  in  the  hearts  of  our  young 
people."  Now,  I  suppose  this  is  true  because  of  your 
magnificent  record  as  the  secretary  of  the  World's  Union 
of  Christian  Endeavor.  You  have  laid'  our  young  people 
under  tribute  to  yourself.  I  know  it  is  within  the  lim- 
its of  truth  to  say  that  our  young  people  lie  at  your  feet, 
sir,  and  that  it  is  your  privilege  to  touch  them  and  lift 
them  up  into  shapes  of  honor  and  righteousness. 

And,  secondly,  the  answer  was,  "Because  of  the  con- 
fidence of  our  fathers  and  mothers  in  Dr.  Baer."  This 

16 


is  .a  compliment,  Dr.  Baer,  to  you  for  your  own  sake.  It 
comes  from  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  the  Presbyter- 
ian Church,  because  both  of  your  record  as  the  secretary 
of  the  World's  Union  of  Christian  Endeavor  and  your 
splendid  work  as  one  of  the 'secretaries  of  the  Board  of 
Home  Missions.  The  fathers  and  mothers  of  our  church 
are  looking  toward  you  with  large  hope  and  confidence 
today. 

And,  thirdly,  all  agree  that  they  were  glad  because 
of  the  marvelous  opportunity  that  now  lies  open  before 
you  because  of  these  two  preceding  conditions.  That 
opportunity  is  such  as  a  king  might  envy,  I  honestly  be- 
lieve. And  I  can  say  to  you,  Dr.  Baer,  it  is  your  privi- 
lege to  knock  at  the  door  of  the  hearts  of  our  people  and 
to  pull  at  their  purse  strings  with  the  assurance  that  you 
will  have  a  hearing  and  a  glad  entrance. 

It  has  been  my  privilege  in  the  past  to  see  you  stand- 
ing o-n  the  platform  before  ten  thousand  of  our  young 
people,  notably  at  the  great  conventions  of  Cleveland, 
and  Boston,  and  Detroit.  And  I  well  remember  the 
thrill  that  your  words  sent  through  the  hearts  and  red 
blood  of  those  multitudes  of  young  people;  and  it  was 
because,  sir,  you  had  that  marvelous  faculty  of  holding 
up  before  the  young  people  lofty  ideals,  and  of  urging 
them  most  earnestly  and  successfully  toward  the  attain- 
ment of  those  ideals.  Well  do  I  remember  the  wonder- 
ful thrill  with  which  again  and  again  your  lips  have 
sounded  forth  those  words,  the  motto  of  the  World's 
Endeavor  Society,  "For  Christ  and  the  Church." 

Now,  Dr.  Baer,  the  Presbyterians  of  the  coast  ask  you 
to  make  good,  in  the  lives  here  on  the  coast,  that  splendid 
motto,  and  to  write  upon  the  plastic  hearts  of  these  people 
in  large  and  living  characers,  with  the  very  crimson  of 
your  own  earnest  consecrated  heart,  this  same  motto, 
"For  Christ  and  the  Church." 


17 


ADDRESS  BY 

Mr.  William  Shaw 

Boston,  Mass.,  Treasurer  of  the  World 's  Christian  Endeavor 

Union 

T  COME  representing  the  largest  constituency  in  the 
largest  training  school  in  the  world  today — The  So- 
ciety of  Christian  Endeavor, — world  wide,  with  the  motto 
of  which  we  have  just  heard,  with  a  faculty  that  includes 
the  loving,  sympathetic  pastors  in  more  than  sixty  dif- 
ferent denominations,  our  president  the  Great  Teacher  of 
all,  and  our  fieM  the  world,  through  the  church  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

I  bring  to  you  also  the  loving  personal  greetings  of 
the  president  of  the  World's  Christian  Endeavor  Union, 
Dr..  Francis  E.  Clark,  the  man  who  in  the  morning  of 
your  life,  saw  the  promise  that  has  been  so  gloriously 
realized  in  your  high  noon-tide.  Would  that  he  might 
be  here  today  to  have  a  part  in  these  exercises,  and  to  put 
his  hand  on  your  shoulder,  as  he  did  fifteen  years  ago 
when  he  called  you  unto  the  work  for  the  young  people 
of  trie  work!'.  His  heart  is  here;  his  loving  greeting^ 
are  here;  his  benediction  is  with  you  as  you  take  up 
this  work;  and  he  glories  not  simplv  in  the  honors  that 
are  yours,  but  in  the  opportunity  for  service  that  you 
have  before  you  in  these  coming  years. 

I  bring  you  my  personal  greeting  this  morning.  The 
twelve  years  that  we  worked  together  brought  us  so 
near  that  I  am  going  to  give  it  to  you.  by  the  wireless 
message  from  the  heart  and  not  by  word  of  the  lips, 
Our  experiences  •  were  too  tender  and  our  service  was 
too  close  to  permit  me  to  speak.  You  have  seen  into  my 
heart  before,  and  you  know  what  it  means.  I  bring  you 
today  the  greetings  of  four  millions  of  Christian  Endeav- 
orers,  and  four  millions  more  who  have  graduated  from 
our  ranks.  Oh,  hear  them!  They  come  from  the  sun- 
burnt plains  of  India,  from  the  jungles  of  Africa,  from 

18 


beneath  the  Southern  Cross,  and  from  our  own  beloved 
country.  Oh,  hear  the  greetings  of  millions  of  young 
hearts  that  bless  God  for  the  influence  of  your  life  and 
for  what  you  have  been  to  them !  Would  that  you  might 
hear  their  voices!  Would  that  you  might  see  into  their 
liv£s!  Oh,  hear  them  today,  as  they  unite  in  blessing 
God  for  the  life  of  this  man,  our  secretary !  I  want 
you  to  understand  that  although  he  will  be  president  of 
Occidental  College,  in  a  few  moments,  he  is  still  the 
honorary  secretary  of  the  World's  Christian  Endeavor 
Union,  and  will  always  hold  his  place  on  the  throne  of 
the  hearts  of  the  young  people  of  the  wide  world. 

Young  men  and  women  of  Occidental,  see  the  stretched- 
out  hands  of  the  millions  in  the  Orient  and  the  O'ocident 
who  want  and  demand  the  investment  of  your  life  in 
•theirs,  that  by  and  by  all  the  young  people  the  whole 
world  around  may  see  the  vision  of  the  up-lifted  Christ 
— may  lift  him  up  in  their  lives,  and  may  go  out  in  the 
world1  in  the  spirit  of  world-wide  Christian  Endeavor, 
with  a  citizenship  proud  and  lofty,  and  with  a  vision  of 
Christ  demanding  and  claiming  the  best  that  we  have. 

God  bless  you  and  prosper  you,,  and  out  from  your 
hands  may  there,  go  men  and  women  who  shall  stand  be- 
fore the  world  fashioned  unto  the  likeness  of  Him  who  is 
like  unto  that  of  the  Son  of  Man. 


19 


ADDRESS  BY 

Prof.  John  A.  Gordon,  D.  D. 

Representing  the  Faculties  of  Occidental  College  and  Acadejny 

HpHK  telegram  that  announced  that  Secretary  Baer  had 
accepted  the  presidency  of  Occidental  College  indi- 
cated very  clearly  and  distinctly  what  would  be  the  pol- 
icy O'f  his  aministratiori.  The  concluding  words  were 
these:  "We  pray  that  God  will  help  us  in  making  Oc- 
cidental College  increasingly  a  power  for  righteousness 
on  the  Pacific  Coast. "  President  Baer  wants  this  col- 
lege to  be  a  power  house,  an  agency  for  developing  to 
the  fullest  possible  extent  in  the  student  the  power  to. 
know,  the  power  to  do,  the  power  to  exercise  self-con- 
trol and  to  influence  others.  And  his  heart's  desire  and 
prayer  is  that  the  students  of  the  school  may  be  so  trained 
that  they  will  exercise  this  power  wisely  and  earnestly 
for  the  advancement  of  the  kingdom  of  God — and  not 
only  so,  but  that  the  influence  of  this  institution  may  be 
far-reaching,  extending  throughout  this  great  Pacific 
Coast,  through  our  land,  and  into  other  lands,  and  grow- 
ing, as  the  years  pass  on,  until  the  kingdoms  of  this 
world  shall  become  the  kingdom1  o<f  our  Lord  and  his 
Christ.  I  repeat  that  closing  sentence,  "May  God  help 
us  make  Occidental  College  increasingly  a  power  for 
righteousness  on  the  Pacific  Coast." 

And  then  in  the  first  address  which  Dr.  Baer,  our 
President,  gave  to  the  faculty  and  the  students,  he  pro- 
posed this  motto  for  the  school,  "Christ,  co-operation, 
conquest." 

The  greatest  of  mere  men  said  this :  "For  me  to  live 
is  Christ;" — "the  preaching  of  Christ  is  the  business  of 
my  life;  the  love  of  Christ  is  the  power  of  my  life;  the 
innate  of  Christ  is  the  crown  of  my  life;  the  will  of 
Christ  is  the  law  of  my  life;  and'  the  glory  of  Christ 
is  the  end  of  my  life." 

Christ  is  the  Word,  the  Revealer  of  God,  the  Revealer 

20 


of  all  truth.  He  is  the  light  of  the  world.  Nature,  hu- 
man history,  the  soul  of  man,  the  inspired  word — all 
these  are  His  revelations.  He  is  not  only  the  author,  He 
is  also  the  chief  subject  of  these  revelations.  He  said 
of  Himslf,  "I  am  the  truth."  The  glory  that  shines 
through  the  works  of  creation  and  providence  and  that 
irradiates  the  pages  of  Scripture  is  His  glory.  That 
great  scientist  and  philosopher,  Kepler,  one  of  the  great- 
est thinkers  that  the  world  has  ever  known,  speaking 
O'f  his  studies  in  nature  said,  "Lord,  I  thank  Thee,  that 
I  can  think  Thy  thoughts  after  Thee."  In  every  college, 
every  university,  teaclhers  and  students  are  studying 
objects  and  events  that  tell  of  Him  of  whom  are  all 
things  and  by  whom  all  things  consist. 

It  gives  me  very  great  pleasure  to-  bring  to  you  on 
this  occasion  the  cordial  greetings  of  the  Faculties  of 
the  College  and  the  Academy.  We  beg  to  assure  you 
that  we  are  in  hearty  accord  with  you  in  your  desire  to 
make  this  school1  increasingly  a  power  for  righteousness, 
a  school  in  which  Christ  shall  be  honored,  trusted,  loved, 
obeyed,  and  in  which  teachers  and  students  shall  faith- 
fully and  earnestly  co-operate  with  Him,  and  with  one 
another  in  the  great  work  of  making  the  kingdom  of  God 
prevail  throughout  the  world. 

The  chief  means  of  promoting  righteousness  is  the 
teaching  of  the  Word  of  God.  The  supreme  revelation 
of  the  Christ  is  that  which  is  contained  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  As  an  expression  of  this  belief,  and  with  the 
earnest  desire  that  the  Inspired  Word  may  always  hold 
the  first  place  among  the  subjects  of  study  in  this  school, 
and  may  exercise  a  controlling  influence  in  the  lives  of 
its  teachers  and  students,  we  present  to  you,  with  our 
greetings  and  best  wishes,  this  Bible.  May  God  bless 
you. 


21 


ADDRESS    BY 

Rev.  E.  S.  McKitrick,  D.  D. 

Representing  the  Board  of  Trustees 

\/T  Y  address,  you  will  probably  be  glad  to  know,  has 
in  substance,  already  been  made  two  or  three 
times,  and  so  I  pass  that  by.  But,  though  the  others 
could  make  my  speech,  they  could  not  well  pive  the  greet- 
ings for  the  Board  of  Trustees.  This,  at  least,  remains 
for  me,  and  to  this  I  shall  confine  myseM. 

It  is  a  pleasant  duty  to  extend  welcome  to  one  whose 
coming  gives  us  satisfaction,  and  such  a  pleasant  duty 
belongs  to  the  trustees  of  Occidental  College  today,  in 
whose'  behalf  I  am  commissioned  to  speak  a,  word  of 
greeting  to>  the  new  president.  And  the  very  word,  it- 
self, "the  word  "welcome",  which  has  been  the  key  note 
o>f  this  happy  occasion,  is  suggestive.  As  doubtless  you 
know — in  its  literal  meaning  it  referes  to  one  who<  comes 
so  as  to  please  another's  will,  and  is  applied  to  one  whose 
coming  is  gratifying  to  another.  And  surely  the  com- 
ing of  Dr.  Baer  to  Occidental  College  is  gratifying,  and 
gives  profound  pleasure  to  the  Board  of  Trustees.  The 
Board  of  Trustees  believe  that  Dr.  Baer's  coming  means 
the  development  of  the  work  of  Occidental.  College;  that 
it  means  a  blessing  to  the  Pacific  Coast  in  strengthen- 
ing the  forces  that  make  for  righteousness ;  that  it  means 
the  sending  out  of 'large  numbers  of  young  men  and 
young  women  from  this  institution  who  shall  be  round- 
ed out  into  completeness  of  education,  educated  in  heart 
as  well  as  in  head — not  merely  sharpened  in  intellect,  but 
so  developed  and  ennobled  in  character  that  their  lives 
will  be  a  blessing  to  all  with  whom  they  come  in  contact. 

It  would  be  very  singular,  indeed,  if  the  Board  of 
^Trustees  were  not  ready  to  welcome  Dr.  Baer  most  heart- 
ily today.  It  would  be  very  inhospitable,  for  he  comes 
at  the  invitation  of  the  Board,  an  invitation  backed,  we 
are  sure,  by  the  cordial  wish  and  sentiment  of  all  the 

22 


patrons  and  friends  of  the  College.  We  are  glad  that 
he  has  come,  and  we  greet  him  today  as  an  invited 
guest.  In  all  that  belongs  to  Occidental  College  to  do,  we 
believe  that  he  will  be  a  faithful  and  efficient  leader.  We 
did  not  invite  him  unadvisedly  or  without  consideration. 
It  was  done  after  careful  thought  and  earnest  prayer. 
And  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  believe  that 
they  were  led  to  send  for  him  just  as  truly  as  the  centur- 
ion of  old  was  led  to  send  for  a  certain  Apostle  to  open 
to  him  the  doors  of  the  kingdom.  And  so  we  can  say 
to  Dr.  Baer  today,  as  the  centurion  said  to  Peter,  "Im- 
mediately therefore,  we  sent  unto  thee,  and  thou  hast 
.well  done  that  thou  art  come/1 

In  all  that,  goes  to  further  the  true  interests  of  edu- 
cation; in  alii  that  contributes  to  make  this  institution  an 
increasing  power  in  Southern  California  and  on  the  Pa- 
cific Coast,  and  indeed,  throughout  the  country  and  the 
world — (no  man  can  limit  the  influence  of  such  an  in- 
stitution,)— in  all  that  tends  to  build  up  the  best  char- 
acter and  to  keep  before  the  young  men  and  the  young 
women  of  this  College  the  loftiest  ideals,  we  pledge  you 

our  cordial  and  earnest  support. 


23 


THE  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS  BY 

John  'Willis  Baer,  LL.  D. 

President  Elect 

\/F  Y  fingers  grasp  these  keys,  sir,  with  intense  enthusi- 
asm and  with  integrity  of  purpose.  A  past  of 
thrilling  interest,  saturated  with  a  spirit  of  sacrifice  and 
heroism  is  represented  by  them.  Occidental's  eighteen 
years  are  fragrant  with  the  work  and  worth  of  true  men. 
The  hands  that  have  fitted  these  keys  to  their  locks  have 
bled  and  blessed.  The  trustees  have  given  to  the  faculty 
full  academic  freedom,  and  the  founders  and  benefactors 
with  generous  hearts  have  insured  Occidental's  finan- 
cial future,  by  providing  a  liberal  endowment  fund  and 
the  erection  of  new  buildings.  Borrowing  Whittier's 
lines,  I  sing  their  praises: 

"Not  vainly  the  gift  of  its  founders  was  made: 
Not  prayerless  the  stones  of  its  corner  were  laid ; 
The  blessing  of  Him  whom  in  secret  they  sought 
Has  owned  the  good  work  the  fathers  have  wrought." 

Occidental's  faculty,  a  welded,  compact  body  repre- 
senting liberal  culture,  and  nearly  the  whole  alphabet  of 
science,  experienced  in  mastering  the  nodosity  of  the  av- 
erage student,  merits  Southern  California's  confidence.  It 
has  enforced  habits  of  study,  believing  the  educator  wise 
wtho  said,  "that  close  attention,  tenacious  memory,  and  ac- 
curate statement,  are  three  mental  virtues  not  unworthy 
to  be  named  after  faith,  hope  and  charity,  the  trinal  vir- 
tues of  Saint  Paul."  That  not  all  its  members  can  read 
Cuneiform  script,  is  frankly  admitted,  but  each  knows  the 
true  value  of  a  soul  beating  with  life  blood.  In  other 
words,  its  members  put  first  things  first,  and  it  does  not 
require  a  spectrum  analysis  to  demonstrate  their  ability 
to  teach.  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them." 

Much  has  been  accomplished  upon  our  campus  by  Oc- 
cidental's donors  and  their  money.  It  is,  however,  but  a 

24 


beginning.  The  recent  purchase  of  twelve  additional 
acres,  is  announced  today.  The  prospects  for  an  observa- 
tory and  a  new  and  fully  equipped  science  hall  are  bright. 
We  are  pleased  with  our  campus,  and  our  buildings;  but 
Occidental  is  more  than  brick  and  mortar.  Her  most 
valuable  equipment  is  her  student  body.  Sons  and 
daughters  of  Occidental,  the  president  greets  you !  Your 
fibre  is  far  from  flaccid  and  your  ideals  are  raised  very 
high  above  the  plane  of  moral  miasma.  You  seldom 
mistake  "figure  for  fact  or  shadow  for  substance."  You 
give  your  best;  and  in' seeking  knowledge  seek  it  not  as 
the  end,  but  as  the  means  to.  the  end.  You  make  Oc- 
cidental more  than  anirinstitution ;  you  make  it  an  influ- 
ence— 'an  influence  to  be  traced  around  the  world,  for 
good  and  for  God. 

Call  me  Occidental's" president  if  you  will,  but  regard 
me  as  her  pastor  agnorum.  If  I  can  attain  to  the  high 
calling  of  the  latter,  the  summit  of  my  hope  and  ambi- 
tion will  be  reached.  You  are  invited  to  magnify  my 
office  by  transfiguring  the  word  president  into  shepherd. 
Let  me  here  and  now  banish  conventional  formalism  and 
honestlv  declare  that  the  insignia  O'f  my  office  will  not  be 
lens,  metre,  or  balance.  Those  instruments  of  precision 
are  found  here,  in  the  experienced  hands  of  others.  A 
sheoherd's  crook  more  appropriately  represents  my  triple 
calling,  "to  nourish,  to  control,  to  lead." 

The  dawn  of  a  new  day  marks  another  advancement 
in  Occidental's  history.  With  it  comes  added  responsibil- 
ity growing  out  of  our  perils  and  opportunities.  That 
responsibility  demands  infinite  wisdom,  generous  co-op- 
eration,  adequate  equipment,  and  capacity  for  illimitable 
service.  With  fierce  joy  we  begin  the  new  mile  of  duty 
and  privilege,  and  solemnly  aver  that  sound  teaching, 
pure  living,  and  unswerving  loyalty  to-  Jesus  Christ  and 
God's  word,  are  the  tri folium  of  our  inspiration  to  lead 
Occidental's  hosts  ever  onward  and  upward ! 

Ours  is  a  Christian  college,  under  Presbyterian  control, 
enjoying  broad  interdenominational'  fellowship,  we  fos- 
ter self-respecting  denomiinationalism  without  permitting 
narrow  sectarian  supremacy.  Welcoming  a  spirit  of 

25 


friendly  rivalry  with  other  institutions,  we  are  here  to 
supplement  and  not  to  supplant.  Founded  upon  the  idea 
that  a  college  of  liberal  arts  has  a  mission  distinct  from 
a  university,  we  do  not  make  a  specialty  of  providing  ad- 
vanced and  professional  work  for  graduate  students.  As 
a  college  we  stand  between  school  and  university,  and  ap- 
preciating that  the  demand  for  college-bred  men  and  wo- 
men is  in  excess  of  the  supply,  we  give  our  students  a  lib- 
eral education  fitting  them  for  every  walk  in  life.  Our 
courses  of  study  compel  accurate  scholarship.  At  the  same 
time,  our  curriculum  is  not  considered  a  catholicon  for 
life.  By  moulding  character  ark;  impressing  high  relig- 
ious ideals,  we  are  proving  that  an  education  in  a  Chris- 
tian college  is  not  a  toy,  but  '«  tool  for  the  farm,  the 
workshop  and  the  counting-house  as  well  as  for  profes- 
sional life. 

With  keen  interest,  the  president  is  studying  the  cur- 
ricula o>f  successful  colleges  in  tlie  hopes  of  elevating  Oc- 
cidental's standards,  This  is  being  done  with  an  open 
mind,  unfettered  by  precedents  or  prejudices.  He  is  anx- 
ious to  be  shown  the  changes  that  should  be  made  of  the 
right  kind  and  to  be  prevented  from  making  those  of 
the  wrong.  This  college  must  have  a  standard  for  schol- 
arship second  to  none,  and  we  are  determined  that  noth- 
ing shall  keep  us  back  from  having  it.  Every  step  taken 
in  that  direction  will  be  maintained  as  we  ever  move  to- 
ward our  goal.  Day  and  night  will  we  strive  to  strength- 
en our  position  in  the  educational  life  o>f  the  Pacific 
Coast,  as  we  covet  only  the  best  gifts.  Your  president 
is  ready  to  go  back  to  the  days  of  Athenian  glory  and 
resurrect  from  the  sepulchre  of  Socrates,  if  need  be,  the 
seed  of  any  educational  life  that  will  take  root  and  bear 
fruit  in  this  day  and  age.  He  is  quite  as  willing  to-  con- 
sider on  its  merits,  the  latest  ideal  o>f  the  least  known 
faculty  member  of  the  most  obscure  college,  if  happily 
he  may  find  methods  which  mav  better  meet  the  educa- 
tional standard  of  greater  Occidental.  He  believes  also 
that  however  it  may  be  with  the  University,  the  courses 
of  study  in  a  college  should  be  made  up  in  the  main  of 


26 


required  subjects  definitely  prescribed,  and  that  freedom 
of  election  should  be  restricted  to  the  more  mature  stu- 
dents of  the  upper  classes. 

This  is  neither  the  time  nor  the  place  to  introduce  ex- 
tended argument  for  or  against  the  elective  system,  as  a 
system.  1  cannot  resist  touching-  just  the  borders  of  the 
subject,  though  in  doing  that,  I  may,  as  did  Sisyphus 
of  old,  push  the  stone  up  hill  only  to  have  it  roll  back 
upon  me.  I  am  content,  however,  to  affirm  that  neces- 
sary as  the  elective  system  is  to  successful  university 
work,  it  is  only  proportionately  essential  to  college  train- 
ing; and  we  do  well  to  have  less,  rather  than  more  of 
it  in  our  plan,  for  we  claim  to  be  a  college  and  make  no 
pretence  of  being  more. 

For  fear  I  may  be  misunderstood,  let  me  share  with 
you  President  Hyde's  -recent  definition  o>f  a  college,  and 
you  will  better  understand  what  we  claim  for  Occidental. 
"A  college  is  an  institution  where  young  men  and  young 
women  study  great  subjects  under  broad  teachers  in  a 
liberty  which  is  not  license,  and  a  leisure  which  is  not 
idleness — with  unselfish  participation  in  a  common  life, 
and  intense  devotion  to  minor  groups  within  the  larger 
body,  and  special  interests  inside  the  general  aim ;  con- 
scious that  they  are  critically  watched  by  friendly  eyes, 
too  kind  to  take  unfair  avantage  of  their  weakness  and 
errors,  yet  too  keen  ever  to  be  deceived." 

Rejoice  with  me,  too,  that  we  are  not  too  large  in 
number  to  interefere  with  individual  training,  while  large 
enough  to  give  needed  stimulus  to  healthy  competition. 
Quality  before  quantity  is  our  watchword.  The  students 
are  encouraged  to  believe  that  mastery  of  "detail,  drudg- 
ery and  duty"  is  the  sure  road  to*  real  success,  and  that 
academic  honors  are  valuable  only  when  obtained  as  re- 
wars  for  love  of  learning  and  truth.  Classical,  culturing 
and  disciplinary  is  the  training  of  Occidental's  class-room. 
We  are  developing  latent  talent,  and  giving  a  practical 
turn  to  classical  education.  That,  augmented  by  the  self- 
reliance  obtained  by  students  from  contact  with  class- 
mates outside  of  class-rooms,  in  the  natural  and  spontan- 


27 


eous   life   of   the   college,    stamps   Occidental's    learning 
as  sound. 

Sound  learning  is  good,  pure  living  is  better;  sound 
learning  and  pure  living — that  is  best.  By  precept  and 
practice,  pure  living  is  inspired  in  our  students.  High 
ideals  are  inculcated  and  Occidental's  graduates  are  sent 
out  into  the  large  school  of  life,  prepared  to  blight  greed, 
to  purify  citizenship,  to  deepen  the  spirit  of  patriotism 
and  to  inspire  love  of  country. 

"For  what  avail  the  plough  or  soil 
Or  land  or  life,  if  freedom  fail?" 

Culture  and  citizenship:  let  Occidental  fling  out  that 
banner  and  assure  the  Cornmonweath  that  its  influence 
is  potent  for  good.  This  commonwealth,  favored  far  be- 
yond many  others,  rich  in  mineral  resources,  only  begin- 
ning to  comprehend  the  possibility  and  rewards  of  irri- 
gation as  water  transforms  its  own  and  tributary  arid 
acres  into  gardens  of  wealth  and  beauty,  must  be  de- 
veloped by  cultured  citizens  imbued  with  the  principles 
of  pure  living.  Occiental  must  give  to  the  nation  men 
and  women  thoroughly  grounded  in  all  the  standards  that 
are  fundamental  to  honesty  in  business  and  purity  in  the 
home.  To  an  unusual  degree  the  undergraduates  of  our 
universities  and  colleges  are  the  trustees  of  cur  country's 
prosperity.  Within  our  walls,  love  of  countrv  means 
much  more  than  that  we  should  die  for  her  when  duty 
demands  it.  Here  we  are  taught  to  live  for  rnr  country 
as  true  men  and  women  and  to  believe  th?t  some  men  are 
as  truly  called  of  God  to  make  important  sacrifices,  and 
become  leaders  of  righteousness  in  municipal,  state  and 
national  governments  as  other  men  are  called  to  enter 
the  gospel1  ministry.  This  college,  keeping  in  mind  Free- 
man's statement,  "History  is  past  politics,  and  politics 
present  history,"  shall  encourage  the  study  of  politics  and 
the  duty  and  privilege  of  g"ood  citizenship.  Its  young 
men  will  cast  their  first  ballots  in  the  fear  of  God,  and 
their  standards  of  life  will  be  a  menace  to  the  brothel, 
the  gambling  den,  the  saloon,  and  everv  cesspool  of  ini- 
quity, private  or  public.  My  pulse  quickens  as  I  think 

28 


of  Occidental's  influence  upon  the  state  and  nation.  Cali- 
fornia has  a  valuable  asset  in  the  product  of  its  institu- 
tions of  higher  learning.  And  that  leads  me  to  say  in 
passing,  the  commonwealth  is  our  debtor  and  the  day 
should  be  near  at  hand  when  the  state  will  not  levy  a 
property  tax  upon  its  own  dividend  producing  assets. 
Fair  play  and  a  square  dead!  demand  a  change. 

To  return  to  the  influence  of  the  co-liege  upon  the 
commonwealth,  let  me  remind  you  that  the  map  of  the 
world  has  changed  in  the  past  few!  years.  The  Pacific 
ocean  .has  become  an  American  lake  and  the  Occident 
and  the  Orient  meet  on  California's  shores.  Boston  is 
no  longer  the  "Hub,"  the  Pacific  Coast  has  become  the 
world's  center.  Have  you  ever  thought  what  brilliant 
foresight  Timothy  Dwight  displayed  when  in  1794  he 
wrote, 

"All  Hail!     Thou  Western  World!  by  heaven  designed 

The  example  bright  to  renovate  mankind! 

Soon  shall  thy  sons  across  the  mainland  roam 

And  claim  on  fair  Pacific's  shores  a  home, 

Where  marshes  teemed  with  death,  shall  meads  unfold, 

Untrodden  cliffs  resign  their  stores  of  gold, 

Where  slept  perennial1  night,  shall  science  rise, 

And  new-born  Oxfords  cheer  the  evening  skies !" 

Alongside  of  this  prophecy  of  over  one  hundred  years 
ago,  put  this  extract  from  an  address  by  none  other  than 
Dr.  Horace  Bushnell  given  before  the  American  Mission- 
ary society  in  1847,  fifty-three  years  later.  Said  Dr. 
Bushnell,  in  the  hope,  no  doubt,  of  rousing-  the  East  to 
take  a  larger  interest  in  the  problems  of  the  West.  "There 
is  no  literary  atmosphere  breathine  throueh  the  forest 
or  across  the  prairies.  The  colleges,  if  any  they  have,  are 
only  rudimentary  beginnings  and  the  youth  a  raw  com- 
pany of  woodsmen.  These  semi-barbarians,  the  immi- 
grants, are  continually  multiplying  their  numbers.  Ere 
long  there  is  reason  to  fear  they  will  be  scouring,  in 
populous  bands,  over  the  .vast  territories  of  Oregon  and 
Calif  orina,  to  be  known  as  the  pasturing  tribes,  the  wild 
hunters  and  robber-clans  of  the  western  hemisphere, 

29 


American  Moabites,  Arabs,  and  Edomites."  What  a  dis- 
mal picture  for  so' good  a  man  to  paint.  It  is  difficult  for  us 
to  believe  it  ever  could  be  true  and  we  turn  from  it  with 
a  smile  and  with  pride  point  to  Berkeley,  Stanford  and 
other  institutions  of  less  magnitude  and  declare  the  pro- 
phecy of  1794,  fulfilled.  Timothy  Dwight  had  a  vision 
of  educational  extension  the  realities  of  which  we  are 
enjoying.  California  is  growing  in  wealth  by  leaps  and 
bounds.  The  rush  for  gold,  begun  sixty  years  ago,  has 
not  abated  in  fact  though  it  has  in  form.  We  rejoice  with 
grateful  hearts  in  our  prosperity.  At  the  same  time  we 
are  sobered  by  the  thought  that  unless  our  ethical,  social 
and  religious  life  keeps  abreast  of  the  ever  rising  tide  of 
commercial1  prosperity,  all  the  advances  of  years  may  be 
swept  aside.  California  needs  todiay  more  than  ever, 
"not  more  men  but  more  man."  This  college  aims  to 
supply  that  need  and  is  turning  into  the  life  of  the  com- 
monwealth, men  and  women  with  non-materialistic  ideals 
and  with  purposes  infinitely  loftier  than  the  desire  to  ac- 
cumulate money  for  money's  sake.  Once  again,  I  say, 
education,  in  a  Christian  collegre  has  civic  and  social  value 
of  an  inestimable  degree,  "No*  man  liveth  unto  him- 
self." 

How  swiftly  we  move  today.  Our  pace  in  1860  was 
represented  by  the  pony  express.  Two  years  later  the 
first  telegraph  line  crossed  the  plains;  sevens  years  later 
the  last  spike  was  driven  uniting  the  east  and  west  by  a 
transcontinental  railroad.  Contrast  the  early  days  with 
today,  and  bless  God  for  the  stride  of  civilization  which 
is  fast  forming  a  great  empire  on  this  coast.  How  easily 
that  word  "great"  slips  from  our  lips.  Everything  in 
this  state  is  measured  by  it.  The  land  is  great.  The 
population  is  great.  The  climate  is  great.  The  features 
are  great.  The  treasures  are  great.  The  need  is  great. 
Only  the  supply  of  distinctively  religiou's  teaching  is  not 
great.  Stop!  Listen!  Shall  Business  be  King?  His 
reign,  dominated  by  modern  methods,  unless  subordinated 
to  the  Prince  of  Peace,  is  full  of  peril.  This  common- 
wealth must  maintain  its  rightful  place  in  the  national 
family,  and  the  loyal  support  given  to  this  and  kindred 

30 


institutions  is  evidence  that  there  are  men  and  women 
who  desire  to  see  Christian  education  keep  step  with  Cali- 
fornia's irresistable  progress.  With  some  of  our  bene- 
factors, this  desire  is  a  passion.  They  have  a  right  to 
demand  that  the  students  who  go  from  these  halls  shall 
be  a  credit  to  the  commonwealth.  The  problems  of  capi- 
tal and  labor,  class  hatred,  and  political  independence  at 
present  absorbing  public  interest,  are  waiting  for  level 
heads  and  ready  hands  to  apply  the  Golden  Rule,  and  can 
be  solved  only  in  the  spirit  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
I  am  an  optimist  and  believe  the  good  in  the  world  is 
surely,  though  all  too  slowly,  gaining  over  the  bad.  I 
must  admit  at  times,  when  the  war  is  'aggressively  waged, 
it  is  difficult  to  discern  the  victor  through  the  smoke  of 
battle.  Our  colleges  and  universities  are  valiently  aid- 
ing in  clearing  the  clouded  atmosphere,  as  each  year  a. new 
and1  noble  influence  arises  from  them  like  incense  from  a 
sacrificial  altar,  or  like 

"The  tital  wave  of  deeper  souls 
Into  our  inmost  being  rolls 
And  lifts  us  unawares." 

Let  me  now  in  closing,  emphasize  the  last  division 
of  Occidental's  trifolium — unswerving  loyalty  to  Jesus 
Christ  and  God's  Word.  From  the  advent  of  Christ  and 
the  founding  of  the  Christian  religion  up  to  this  day,  the 
church  throughout  the  known  world  without  a  faltering 
note  has  resolutely  stood  for  education,  though  for  centur- 
ies, amid  much  confusion  and  imperfection,  it  stood  alone. 
In  our  own  land  the  first  step  provided  for  higher  educa- 
tion was  taken  by  the  church.  Harvard,  William  and 
Mary,  Yale,  these  colleges  in  the  order  named,  were  built 
upon  Christian  foundations.  Barker  informs  us  that  of 
the  first  one  hundred  and  nineteen  colleges  founded  in 
the  Unite  States,  over  one  hundred  were  children  of  the 
church.  There  has  in  recent  ^ears  been  much  discussion 
as  to  the  relation  of  state  schools  and  those  of  the  church 
and  it  would  be  well  in  this  connection  to  heed  what 
the  president  of  De  Pauw  said  in  his  inaugural  address? 


31 


''If  the  prophecies  so  often  made  at  the  present  should 
prove  true  and  the  schools  of  the  church  be  killed  by  the 
schools  of  the  state,  history  would  offer  no>  clearer  and 
sadder  instance  of  wholesale  matricide!  But  he  who 
imagines  such  an  outcome  is  lacking-  in  vision.  The  state 
schools  are  here  and  they  will  remain.  Surely  no  one 
would  care  to  decree  that  all  young-  people  must  at- 
tend an  institution  of  private  or  denominational  founding. 
The  colleges  of  such  private  and  denominational  founcl- 
ig  have  given  noble  service  to  our  various  states.  They 
now  have  a  right  to  ask  for  a,  fair  field;  have  a  right  to 
ask  that  there  be  no<  needless  duplication  of  collegiate 
work ;  have  a  right  to  demand  that  there  be  no  partiality 
shown  in  the  selection  of  teachers,  principals  and  superin- 
tendents; have  a  right  to  assert  the  glory  of  their  mission. 
But  more  than  these  rights  they  can  not  claim.  Their 
work  must  be  positive  and  constructive ;  the  strengthening 
of  the  various  departments,  the  sending  out  of  men  and 
women  of  intellect  and  character.  Given  these  worthy 
conditions,  the  schools  of  the  church  will  not  die.  They 
may  have  some  serious  sickness,  or  they  may  change  their 
•places  of  residence,  or  they  may,  when  proper  love  pre- 
vails, marry.  Our  schools  are  the  wards  of  a  deathless 
church.''  Better  than  any  words  of  mine,  are  these  that 
I  have  just  quoted,  and  I  leave  this  subject  bv  adding, 
that  while  the  lines  between  church  and  state  schools  are 
carefully  marked,  and  very  properly  so,  there  should  al- 
ways be  the  fullest  co-operation,  as  both  without  conflict 
move  into  an  ever-widening  sphere  o<i  service.  At  the 
inauguration  o-f  the  president  of  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia, just  seven  years  ago  yesterday,  Dr.  Gilman,  a 
former  president,  returned  from  the  East  to  the  Golden 
Gate  to  'address  the  thousands  who  had  gathered  with 
Dr.  Jordan  to  give  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  to  Dr. 
Wheeler.  In  mentioning  the  noteworthy  changes  and 
advancements  for  good  in/  universities  and  professional 
schools,  Dr.  Gilman  used  these  words :  "I  note  greater 
liberty  on  the  part  of  religious  leaders  towards  the  meth- 
ods of  modern  thought,  less  apprehension,  more  generous 
sympathy  when  science,  language  and  history  speak.  On 

32 


the  other  hand,  it  is  equally  worthy  of  note,"  said  that 
famous  educator,  "that  intellectual  men,  whether  they 
be  devoted  to  letters,  science,  law,  or  education,  are  more 
and  more  ready  to  admit  and  to  declare,  that  the  things 
which  are  seen  are  temporal,  and  the  things  which  are 
unseen  are  eternal ;  that  beneath  all  f orais  of  worship 
there  is  true  religion  binding  man  to  his  Creator;  that 
the  mysteries  of  life  are  just  as  great  as  they  were  in  the 
days  of  Solomon  and  Plato.  Much  more  than  this,  they 
believe  that  the  discoveries  of  miscroscope  and  tele- 
scope, the  more  they  are  prosecuted  the  more  they  reveal 
a  plan  and  the  more  incomprehensible  that  plan  appears, 
without  the  belief  in  one  living  and  true  God." 

I  believe  that  sentiment  and  teaching  is  to  be  found 
in  many  of  the  state  schools,  notwithstanding  reports 
to  the  contrary.  May  God  speed  the  day  when  it  shall 
be  characteristic  of  all.  May  I  also  be  permitted  to  say 
that  I  believe  the  day  is  to  come  again  when  the  English 
Bible  will  be  taught  in  the  class  rooms  of  state  schools  of 
every  grade  from  primary  to  university.  Why  should 
that  clay  be  deferred?  It  seems  more  than  strange  to  me 
that  the  viceroy  of  the  Chinese  provinces  of  Hupeh  and 
Hunan,  who  has  issued  a  decree  introducing  the  New 
Testament  into  the  schools  of  his  fifty-eight  million  peo- 
ple, should  apparently  place  a  higher  value  on  the  study 
cf  the  Bible  than  is  evidenced  by  the  state  schools  of 
Christian  America.  At  present  the  church  schools  as  a 
rule  have  a  monopoly  of  Bible  instruction,  but  they  ear- 
nestly desire  to  share  it  with  the  state  schools.  Until 
that  time  comes,  the  responsibility  of  the  church  school  is 
only  the  more  important  and  our  prevision  and  provision 
must  be  correspondingly  wise  and  adequate.  While  Oc- 
cidental has  increased  and  strengthened  its  teaching-  force 
in  letters  and  science  it  has  at  the  same  time  made  a 
larger  place  for  the  English  Bible.  The  Bible  is  a  text- 
book placed  in  the  hands  of  ever  student  in  this  institution 
and  its  study  is  required.  This  statement  may  or  may 
not  meet  with  your  approval,  but  it  is  only  fair  to  yon 
and  to  Occidental,  that  all  should  understand  beyond  the 
possibility  of  a  doubt,  that  God's  Word  is  the  corner-stone 

33 


of  this  foundation.  It  is  with  nothing  less  than  genuine 
enthusiasm  that  we  sound  this  positive  note.  The  relig- 
ious life  of  Occidental  is  vitalizing,  never  obtrusive  nor 
offensive.  We  cordially  dislike  Pharisaism,  and  the  genu- 
ineness and  naturalness  of  our  religious  life  is  felt  in 
chapel,  class-room,  campus  and  athletic  field  alike.  Be- 
lieve me,  our  religious  teaching  is  as  broad  as  it  is  posi- 
tive. We  remember  the  Master's  denunciation  of  prose- 
lyting and  teach  our  beliefs  without  attempting  to  destroy 
those  of  others. 

Most  naturally,  with  such  teaching,  the  missionary  and 
evangelistic  spirit  is  found  here  in  marked  degree.  We 
point  with  reasonable  pride  to  our  alumni,  now  working 
for  God  in  mission  fields  at  home  and  abroad.  There 
are  many  of  our  number  who  have  dedicated  their  lives 
to  the  ministry  and  will  ere  long  be  in  the  field  of  active 
service. 

Could  any  college  do  better  service  for  its  country  than 
to  give  to  it  consecrated  men  and  women  who,  lighting 
their  torches  here,  will  carry  to  those  who  know  it  not, 
the  light  of  eternal  life,  Occidental  believes  "our  self- 
preservation  'as  a  church  is  conditioned  on  our  obedience 
to  the  great  commission.  Now  it  is  preach  or  perish. 
Evangelize  or  fossilize.  Ours  must  be  a  saving  church 
with  girded  loins  and  burning  lamp  carrying  a  lost  world 
on  the  heart  day  and  night."  Next  week  we  send  an 
alumnus  who  is  present  today,  to  China,  where  he  will 
join  others  of  our  alumni  who  have  gone  before  him  to 
blaze  a  trail  for  the  church  of  Christ.  All  honor  to  these 
consecrated  men  and  women,.  They  believe  the  one  thing 
above  all  others  worth  having,  is  the  opportunity  to  be- 
come ambassadors  of  the  King  of  kings  in  lands  steeped 
in  error  'and  superstitution,  America  has  become  a 
world  power.  Whatever  that  may  mean  in  the  vocabulary 
of  nations  may  it  mean  a  world  filled  with  His  power. 
In  our  own  lands  there  are  thousands  waiting  for  the 
transforming  power  of  the  gospel  and  it  is  from  Occi- 
dental, volunteers  are  to  be  recruited.  These  people  are 
to  be  found  in  city  and  country  districts.  Keep  them  in 
mind  and  think  also  of  the  million  and  more  immigrants 

34 


coming  to  our  shores,  annually !  Shall  these  newcomers 
remain  aliens  or  shall  they  become  Americans  ?  For  one, 
I  agree  with  President  Roosevelt,  that  "we  can't  have  too 
much  immigration  of  the  right  kind  and  we  want  none  of 
the  wrong."  I  believe  every  immigrant  knocking  at  our 
doors,  who  can  meet  the  requirements  of  Uncle  Sam 
should  have  an  abundant  entrance,  and  that  more  than 
that  there  should1  not  be  racial  or  religious  discrimination 
of  any  kind.  We  who  have  lived  in  the  East,  do  not  fear 
your  "yellow  peril."  With  Maltbie  Babcock,  I  believe 
the  so-called  "yellow  peril  is  America's  golden  opportun- 
ity." Occidental  will  not  only  send  its  sons  to  preach 
the  gospel1  in  the  Orient,  but  it  will  open  its  own  doors 
wide  to  the  sons  of  the  Orient  -and  gladly  prepare  them'  to 
return  and  help  in  the  great  awakening  of  China  and  Ja- 
pan. The  alien  invasion  of  our  eastern  and  western 
ports  by  many  is  considered  a  menace  to1  the  purity  of  our 
national  life.  It  may,  under  certain  conditions,  prove  to 
be  a  menace.  I  believe  it  to  be  a  mission.  A  mission 
that  ought  to  stir  the  heart  of  every  liberty-loving  citizen 
and  with  due  respect  to  those  who  differ  from  me,  1 
stand  ready  to  give  each  worthy  immigrant  a  man's  full 
chance  in  God's  country.  America  with  all  of  its  won- 
derful development,  is  still  a  mission  field,  and- Occiden- 
tal must  contribute  its  quota  of  workers  for  the  home  as 
well  as  for  the  foreign  mission  fields. 

Because  ours  is  a  Christian  foundation,  we  have  many 
other  privileges  and  duties  that  center  in  the  life  of 
Jesus  Christ.  There  is  time  to  refer  to  but  one  more 
among  many  and  that  one  also  touches  the  welfare  o-f 
the  world.  Occidental  must  enlist  its  student  body  in 
"war  against  war."  The  boom  of  cannon  has  but  re- 
cently ceased  to  roll  in  from  across  the  Pacific.  The 
blood  stains  are  still  wet  upon  the  soil,  and  it  is  high 
time  that  in  state,  certainly  in  religious  institutions,  the 
horror,  the  destruction,  the  crime  of  war  should  be  taught 
the  young.  To  that  end,  text-books  of  history  need  to 
be  revised.  In  addition  to  that,  the  principles  of  inter- 
national arbitration  should  be  taught  and  upheld.  Not 
only  must  we  stand  for  a  purer  national  standard  at  home, 

35 


but  we  must  help  America  to  bring  about  a  worthier  in- 
ternational life  abroad.  A  famous  old  Massachusetts 
statute  imposes  upon  all  teachers  "love  of  country,  of  hu- 
manity, and  universal  benevolence."  We  do  well  to  fol- 
low in  Massachusetts'  train  and  make  Occidental  a  branch 
of  a  great  peace  and  international  arbitration  society,  for 
"God  hath  made  of  one  blood,  all  nations  of  men  for 
to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth." 

There  is  much  more  in  my  heart  to  say,  but  I  will  sit 
down,  conscious  that  I  have  only  emphasized  a  few  of 
Olccidental's  possibilities.  Some  will  wonder  that  I  did 
not  swing  away  from  this  college  and  speak  in  a  more 
general  way  on  the  inspiring  theme  of  Christian  educa- 
tion, reminding  me  that  the  name  Occidental  has  often 
been  on  my  lips  and  that  an  inaugural  address  should  not 
be  personal,  nor  limited  in  scope  or  vision.  Others  will 
think  that  I  ought  to  have  attempted  in  a  scholarly  way 
to  dwell  upon  problems  peculiarly  academic.  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, if  I  have  sinned  against  conventionality,  I  must 
plead  .guilty,  for  I  did  it  deliberately  and  with  fore- 
thought. Did  it  even  at  the  cost  of  being  misunderstood 
in  letter  and  in  spirit.  Did  it  because  I  am  absorbed  in 
Occidental  and  its  possibilities,  and  am  determined  to  lose 
my  life  in  hers.  With  these  simple  and  sincere  words,  to 
which  you  have  listened  with  patience,  I  accept  as  a  trust 
from  God,  the  custody  of  Occidental's  keys.  My  love  for 
her  prompts  me  to  wish  for  Occidental's  sake,  her  presi- 
dent had  intellectual  and  spiritual  equipment  and  academic 
experience  equal  to  his  opportunity.  •  You  have  accepted 
him  with  his  limitations ;  he  accepts  the  duties  and  privi- 
leges with  a  teachable  spirit,  believing  Southern  Califor- 
nia is  only  beginning  to  appreciate  what  God  will  do  for 
and  with  Occidental,  if  we  are  true  to  Him. 


36 


CONGRATULATORY  ADDRESS  BY 

Robert  E.  Speer,  M.  A. 

New  York  City 

T  N  behalf  of  President  Baer's  very  many  friends  in 
i  the  east,  and  in  behalf  of  the  friends  there  of 
this  college,  and  oi  those  ideals  for  which  it  stands,  it 
is  a  great  privilege  to  be  here  today  to  congratulate  both 
President  Baer  and  Occidental  College  on  the  inaugura- 
tion of  these  new  relations. 

I  use  the  phrase  "in-  the  east"  with  a  great  deal  of 
hesitation,  because  I  do  not  believe  in  emphasizing  sec- 
tional differences  in  our  land.  There  are  more  regards 
in  which  the  different  sections  of  our  land  resemble  one 
another  than  those  in  which  they  are  unlike  one  another ; 
and  there  are  no  fundamental  problems  of  any  one  cor- 
ner of  the  land  that  are  not  the  problem's  also  of  every 
other  corner  of  the  land.  One  state  is  great  in  its  own 
way,  but  it  does  not  surpass  the  greatness  of  other  states  in 
their  way.  And  while  there  are  diversities  of  resources  all 
over  the  land,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  our  land  is  one  land,  and 
we  do  ourselves  injury  when  we  attempt  in  our  thought  to 
divide  it  into  fragments  and  regard  the  different  sections 
of  it  as  unlike,  or  facing  each  by  itself  problems  distinct 
from  those  which  are  faced  in  other  parts  of  the  land. 
If  this  were  not  so,  I  think  a  man  might  have  some  hesi- 
tation today  in  offering  congratulations  on  the  establish- 
ment of  this  relationship.  It  is  because  in  his  own  section 
of  the  land  President  Baer,  so  far  as  he  has  been  able 
to  do  a  man's  work  in  the  world,  has  faced  problems 
that  are  common  to  all  the  life  of  our  land,  that  he  is 
fitted  to  come  here  to  a  different  section  of  the  country 
and  confront  the  problems  that  are  involved  in  this  edu- 
cational enterprise.  And,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  I  believe 
the  fundamental  problems  of  life  are  the- same  all  over 
the  world,  and  that  the  greatness  of  the  climate  and  the 
resources  and  the  other  possessions  of  Southern  Califor- 

37 


ma  do  not  create  any  fundamental  problems  different  from 
those  which  constitute  the  vital  problems  of  life  wherever 
men  are  trying  to  work  out  the  destiny  of  God  for  their 
lives  in  the  world. 

It  is  because  I  believe  this  that  it  is  possible  here  today 
to  congratulate  both  the  president  and  the  college  on  the 
establishment  of  these  relationships  in  the  spirit  which  has 
been  displayed  here,  and  in  which  this  new  administration, 
intends  to  address  itself,  not  to  anything  that  is  of  sec- 
ondary or  superficial  consequence,  but  to  those  great  and 
vital  necessities  which  relate  to  the  fundamental  problems 
of  human  life  and  Character  all  over  the  world. 

Any  man  might  stand  here  today  with  a  rejoicing  heart 
at  hearing  the  words  that  have  been  uttered  by  all  who 
have  spoken,  and  at  coming  really  to  understand  that  it  is 
to  be  the  aim  of  this  institution  to  attempt  to  lay  as  the 
foundations  of  life  for  the  young  men  and  women  who 
may  pass  under  its  influences,  the  great  and  unswerving 
principles  of  right  character  which  do>  not  alter  or  change. 

We  live  in  a  day  when  men  lay  much  stress  upon  adap- 
tation, when  there  are  many  men  with  desire  to  attain 
ends  so  strong  that  they  subordinate  principle  to  policy. 

Now,  the  great  business  of  life  is  not  principally  to 
attain  any  ends  whatsoever.  The  great  business  of  life 
is  the  dicipline  through  which  men  and  women  are  passed 
in  the  moral  choices  they  make  and  the  means  they 
choose  for  the  attainment  of  their  ends;  and  it  is  of 
very  little  consequence  whether  a  man  or  woman  ever 
attains  any  end.  so  long  as  he  or  she  passes  through  the 
right  discipline  in  all  the  choices  that  need  to  be  made. 

We  have  around  us  today  some  educational  institu- 
tions, and  some  men  in  public  life  who  are  the  teachers 
of  a  different  doctrine.  There  are  many  men  delicately 
poised,  always  apparently  waiting  to  see  the  way  in  which 
policy  would  make  it  prudent  for  them,  to  jump.  You 
remember  Rikki-T'ikki  T'avi,  the  immortal  mongoose,  who 
could  poise  himself  so  that  no*  man  could  tell  in  what 
direction  he  was  going  to  fly  off.  He  was  ready  for  any 
chance.  There  are  men  so  devoid  of  principle  that  they 
sustain  in  life  just  about  that  attitude,  believe  in  no  ethics 

38 


that  are  absolute;  in  one  part  of  the  land  they  are  relig- 
ious men;  in  another  part  of  the  land  their  religion  suf- 
fers an  eclipse.  In  one  set  of  circumstances  they  live 
by  certain  principles;  and  in  another  set  of  circumstances 
they  live  by  other  principles. 

The  great  and  fundamental  necessity  of  education  is 
to  build  life  on  rigid  and  fixed  principles;  and  our  great 
need  here  in  the  west,  and  everywhere,  is  for  fixed 
men  oi  fixed  principles. 

I  was  very  much  impressed  a  few  days  ago  by  a 
letter  which  Mr.  Morley  quotes  in  the  second  volume  of 
his  life  of  Gladstone.  It  was  addressed  to  Mr.  Glad- 
stone by  Mr.  Spurgeon.  "Mr.  Gladstone,"  said  the 
great  preacher,  "we  common  people  of  England  do  not 
believe  in  one  manV  integrity."  And  education  has 
fallen  far  short  of  its  primary  aim  if  it  does  not  breed 
men  and  women  who  have  set  themselves  with  absolutely 
immovable  rigidity  in  devotion  to*  fixed  principles. 

We  need  in  our  land  today  men  and  women  who  are 
not  afraid  to  carry  ethical  principles  to  excess.  The 
highest  ethics  are  not  ethics  at  all  unless  you  carry  them 
to  excess.  There  is  no  such  thing,  as  a  speaker  in  the 
House  of  Commons  once  remarked,  as  moderate  chastity. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  moderate  veracity.  There  is 
no  such  thing  as  moderate  honesty.  The  man  who  is 
moderately  chaste  is  unchaste;  the  man  who  is  moderate- 
ly honest  is  dishonest ;  the  man  who1  is  moderately  true  is 
false.  And  what  we  need  to  get  set  right  in  the  very 
foundations  of  all  our  education  of  character  in  this  land 
is  the  great  principle  that  our  ethical  convictions  have 
got  to  come  to  be  conceived  as  absolutely  hard  and  fixed 
and  immovable  things.  And  if  out  from  this  college 
there  can  be  sent  men  and  women  who  will  believe  this, 
men  and  women  who  have  been  grounded  on  this  princi- 
ple, then  from  this  college  will  go  the  kind  of  men  and 
women  who  have  power  to  do  work  in  the  world. 

There  is  a  great  old  saying  of  Confucius  in  his  Ana- 
lects, "Ten  thousand  men  cannot  stand  against  one  right 
principle."  And  one  can  stand  here  with  a  joyful  heart 
today  because  be  believes  that  the  primary  principle  of 

39 


education  in  this  institution  is  to  be  the  training  of  men 
and  women  into  the  perception  of  right  principles,  and 
the  loyalizing  of  their  lives  to  right  principle,  no  mat- 
ter at  what  cost  that  loyalty  must  be  preserved,  their 
whole  life  through. 

And  I  congratulate  President  Baer,  and  this  college, 
and  the  constituency  round  about  this  college,  also,  be- 
cause it  is  to  stand  for  hard  and  established  conviction. 
We  were  all  glad  to  hear  President  Jordan,  who  repres- 
ents a  great  university,  say  that  it  is  the  great  function 
of  the  small  college,  not  so  much  to  investigate  unsolved 
problems,  as  to  tell  young  men  and  women  the  things 
that  are  known  to  be  true.  There  is  a  curious  kind  o>f 
tolerance  in  our  age  that  extends  to  what  men  are 
doubtful  about,  but  not  to  what  they  know. 

There  is  a  spirit  which  seems  to  think  that  men  should 
not  be  sure  of  anything.  In  many  institutions  a  man 
can  talk  of  his  doubts  all  he  pleases,  but  he  must  be  very 
careful  not  to  say  anything  about  his  beliefs  and  convic- 
tions. A  man  finds  it  very  hard  to  have  any  tolerance 
for  that  kind  of  tolerance.  The  kind  of  tolerance  which 
will  permit  men  to  speak  of  their  misgivings  but  not  of 
their  convictions,  is  a  kind  of  tolerance  toward  which 
we  should  be  absolutely  intolerant.  The  kind  of  insti- 
tution in  which-  we  believe,  and  whose  ideals  we  are  con- 
sidering here  today,  stands  for  the  things  that  it  knows 
to  be  true.  While  it  recognizes  that  there  is  a  place  for 
interrogations,  and  that  all  life  is  simply  a  raising  of  in- 
terrogations, it  knows  also  that  life  is  wasted  if  it  does 
not  answer  the  interrogations  that  it  raises,  and  if  it  does 
not  close  the  issues  behind  it  just  as  fast  as  they  can 
be  closed  and  settled  to  young  men  and  women.  We  rest 
not  on  a  doctrine  of  doubt  as  to  whether  anything  can  be 
sure,  but  on  the  solid  conviction  that  some  things  we 
know,  and  that  we  know  that  we  know  them. 

I  rejoice  here  today,  and  congratulate  both  this  college 
and  President  Baer,  because  this  new  administration 
is  to  stand,  as  he  has  so  clearly  said,  for  hard  and  sub- 
stantial character  as  against  weak  and  indulgent  selfish- 
ness. He  was  quoting  a  little  while  ago*  from  Horace 

40 


Bushnell.  Now,  Horace  Bushnell  did  not  only  'say  true 
things  about  the  Pacific  Coast  of  his  day ;  Horace  Bush- 
nell left  his  indelible  imprint  upon  this  coast.  The  uni- 
versity which  Dr.  Wheeler  represents  here  today  is  in  part 
the  child  of  Horace  Bushnell's  devotion  to  California. 
With  old  Dr.  Willey,  I  believe,  he  laid  out  the  site  on 
which  the  university  now  stands,  and  they  two  planned 
together  the  great  conceptions  on  the  basis  of  which  that 
university  was  to  be  developed.  No  man  has  left,  of  all 
the  geniuses  that  have  gone,  a  better  mark  upon  this 
coast  than  Horace  Bushnell.  Nor  did  any  man  stand 
more  clearly  for  those  great  ideals,  which  are  the  ideals 
of  this  occasion.  I  suppose  that  one  of  the  most  not- 
able of  all  his  speeches  was  the  address  at  the  Litchfield 
County  Centennial,  on  the  Age  of  Homespun.  He  stood 
for  moral  frugality  and  honorable  living,  and  he  taught 
men  the  place  in  character  building  which  the  nourish- 
ment of  life  in  fast  principles  must  have.  It  was  the 
great  lesson  he  taught  to  all  theology  and  the  peda- 
gogy of  his  day.  He  stood  for  the  hardening  of  all  prin- 
ciples of  righteousness  into*  the  immovable  habits  of  the 
life  of  a  man. 

I  hope  that  in  this  institution  nothing  will  be  put  forth 
more  strongly  than  the  idea  of  the  duty  of  disciplining 
the  lives  of  young  men  'and  women  into  the  doing  of 
hard  things.  I  hope  athletic  sports  will  never  be  sup- 
pressed in  this  college,  no  matter  how  rough  they  are, 
the  rougher,  within  limits,  the  better  for  the  young  men 
who  participate  in  them..  I  hope  that  the  ideals  of  this 
college  will  always  hold  firmly,  and  its  modes  of  discipline 
provide  nourishment  for,  the  highest  conceptions  of  hard 
and  simple  and  frugal  character.  The  great  need  of  our 
time  is  for  more  of  this.  There  is  too  much  soft  indul- 
gence in  the  forming  of  all  life  in  our  land. 

I  heard  of  a  rich  woman  in  one  of  our  cities,  who  want- 
ed a  tutor  for  her  boy.  She  said  he  was  a  very  difficult 
boy  to  handle  and  she  would  have  to  have  a  wise  tutor  to 
take  him  in  charge.  She  said  that  she  had  wanted  to  go 
to  Europe  a  little  while  before  and  take  the  boy  with  her, 
but  he  didn't  want  to  go.  And  when  she  insisted,  he 

41 


said,  "Mother,  if  you  do,  I  will  yell  on  the  pier  so  loud 
that  it  will  get  into  the  newspapers."  And  he  actually  in- 
timidated his  mother  into  giving  up  her  trip  to  Europe, 
lest  she  should  see  this  young  cub  of  hers  howling  on  the 
pier. 

Now,  one  of  the  great  necessities  of  our  day  is  for 
more  hard  and  military  discipline.  We  all  hope  for  the 
day  when  war  shall  cease,  but  much  as  we  hope  for  war 
to  be  discontinued  we  have  got  to  get  these  military  vir- 
tues into  our  young  men  and  women,  the  kind  of  hard- 
ship that  makes  them,  glad  to  do  difficult  tasks,  that 
makes  them  eager  to  submit  themselves  to  them,  and  not 
rise  in  insurrection  and  abandon  them- — that  is  what  we 
need. 

I  rejoice  to  congratulate  President  Baer  and  this  col- 
lege, because  he  has  sounded  in  his  inaugural  address  here 
without  fear,  the  glory  of  missionary  service.  There  is 
a  great  need  that  that  ideal!  should  be  held  up  before  all 
young  men  and  the  young  women  of  this  land ;  and  I  am 
old-fashioned  enough  in  my  educational  ideas  to  believe 
that  a  classical  college  like  this  is  the  best  place  in  which 
to  keep  alive  the  heroic  ideal  of  self  sacrifice  and  service. 
I  represent  two  universities  which  have  never  departed 
from  the  old  ideals  o>f  classical  training,  and  which  I 
hope  may  never  depart  from  them.  It  was  urged  when 
technical  education  began  to  be  largely  developed  in  our 
land,  and  the  classics  were  cast  out  from  the  training  of 
young  men  and  women — it  was  urged  that  this  new  kind 
of  training  in  the  precise  and  mathematical  sciences  would 
breed  men  of  firmer  principles.  Now,  it  has  not  bred 
men  of  firmer  principles.  The  technical  schools  of  our 
land  have  not  turned  out  men  and  women  who  see  moral 
issues  more  precisely,  or  who  live  more  faithfully  for  the 
right  things  on  our  earth  than  the  young  men  and  wo- 
men who  have  had  their  education  under  classical  influ- 
ences. And  the  influence  of  our  technical  schools  not 
alone  has  not  bred  firmer  principle,  but  it  most  surely 
has  not  bred  finer  sentiment.  I  had  occasion  a  little 
while  ago  to  apply  to  several'  O'f  our  largest  scientific 
schools  for  a  man  to  go  and  teach  mechanical  and  elec- 

42 


trical  engineering  in  Northern  India.  Not  a  man  could 
be  found  in  all  those  schools  who  would  go;  and  the 
president  of  one  of  them  wrote  quite  frankly  that  the 
men  that  came  to  him  were  not  in  engineering  for  the 
sake  of  the  good  they  could  do  to  the  world,  but  for 
the  amount  of  profitable  employment  they  could  secure 
for  themselves.  I  believe  we  are  going  to  have  to  face 
in  this  land  that  inevitable  result  o>f  our  technical  edu- 
cation. We  have  turned  away  young  men  and  some 
young  women  from  the  great  classical  ideals  of  self-sacri- 
fice in  fields  where  they  could  do  the  most  unselfish  work. 
And  I  rejoice  in  the  ideals  that  are  to  rule  in  this  insti- 
tution, because  they  set  before  us  so  distinctly  and  clearly 
these  right  ideals  of  life — not  the  acquisition  of  as  much 
as  can  be  acquired,  not  the  attempt  to  gain  as  much  from 
the  world  as  possible;  but  the  glory  of  paying  into  life 
as  much  as  possible  out  of  our  own  lives,  even  though  no 
return  \vhatever  comes  back  to  repayment  for  the  work 
that  we  do-  for  the  world. 

I  know  that  the  contrary  ideals  can  be  taught,  even 
in  a  classical  institution.  And  I  suppose  there  is  no  lit- 
erature that  will  teach  them  more  dismally  than  the  kind 
of  literature  which  is  often  made  pre-eminent  in  our 
technical  schools.  The  note  of  self  culture,  of  the  selfish 
principle  o<f  life  is  common  enough  in  all  literature  and  all 
too  common  in  our  own  which  is  given  some  place  in  our 
technical  schools.  Old  Landor  illustrated  and  expressed 
it: 

"I  strove  with  none,  for  none  was  worth  my  strife, 

Nature  I  loved  and  after  nature  art, 
I  warmed  both  hands  before  the  fire  of  life. 

It  sinks  and  I  am  ready  to  depart." 

The  doctrine  is  possible  in  a  classical  college,  but  no 
graduate  should  ever  be  allowed  to  think  himself  ready 
to  depart  with  such  an  autobiography. 

I  rejoice  in  the  phrase  which  President  Baer  used, 
which  I  think  was  first  spoken  by  Mr.  Henry  M.  Stanley, 
and  which  he  used  in  the  sentence  descriptive  of  young 
Glave,  who  he  said  was  the  best  lieutenant  he  had  had  in 

43 


Africa.  "He  was  one  of  those  men/'  said  Stanley,  "who 
relish  a  task  for  its  bigness,  and  who  greet  hard  labor 
with  a  fierce  joy."  It  is  with  that  fierce  joy  and  that  rel- 
ish of  the  bigness  of  a  task  that  the  young  men  and 
women  who  <are  trained  here  will  go  out  if  they  are 
trained  in  those  ideal's  to  which  this  administration  and 
this  college  have  been  pledged  in  our  hearing  today,  and 
to  which  we  intend  to  hold  this  college  and  this  adminis- 
tration true. 

We  rejoiced  to  hear  the  president  a  few  moments  ago 
say  that  this  college  had  no  ambition  to  be  numerically 
great.  Well,  it  is  of  no  value  to  have  that  kind  of  am- 
bition, for  that  kind  of  ambition  leads  not  one  stq>  to- 
ward its  fulfillment,  and  not  having  that  kind  of  ambition, 
but  being  great,  is  the  inevitable  way  to  make  a  college  or 
a  university  great.  This  college  cannot  do  the  things  that 
have  been  promised  here  today  without  becoming  great 
in  spite  of  itself.  Let  it  be  known  that  in  one  spot  o>f  this 
land  there  is  a  college  that  stands  for  these  ideals,  that 
actually  gets  these  ideals  embodied  in  all  its  work  and  dis- 
cipline, and  to  that  college  young  men  and  women  will 
flock  from  all  over  this  land  and  from  all  over  the  world. 
All  you  need  to  do  is  to  erect  somewhere  an  institution 
over  whose  gates  you  inscribe,  "Whatsoever  things  are 
true,"  and  be  faithful  to  that  inscription,  and  you  have 
made  a  great  college,  nc  matter  how  you  may  try  to  keep 
it  obscure  or  small. 

I  think  the  greatest  college  that  I  ever  saw,  was  in 
China.  It  is  a  college  which  has  left  its  marks  forever  on 
that  country.  Out  of  that  small  college,  came  most  of  the 
Chinese  professors  for  the  two  Chinese  universities  that 
were  in  existence  prior  to  the  Boxer  uprising.  It 
was  the  life  sacrifice  and  service  of  one  man  and  his  wife. 
They  resolved  to  build  a  college  with  three  principles. 
First,  it  was  to  give  China,  not  what  it  wished  but  what 
it  needed ;  second,  to  do  its  work  with  absolute  thorbugh- 
ness — it  would  not  attempt  very  much,  but  what  it  did  at- 
tempt it  would  be  better  than  it  was  done  anywhere 
else  in  China;  and  third,  it  would  be  Christian  through 
and  through,  with  no  timidity  or  concealment.  I  believe 

44 


this  institution  would  rest  secure  with  some  such  founda- 
tion as  this.  It  would  inevitably  take  its  place  among  the 
great  institutions  of  this  state.  You  would  serve  not  one 
state  alone,  but  all  this  land  and  all  the  world.  You  would 
be  great,  for  all  greatness  is  to  be  measured  in  the  terms 
of  great  service;  and  all  great  service  is  to  be  measured  in 
the  terms  of  impact  on  human  character;  and  if  in  this 
place  character  can  be  fashioned  so  that  it  cannot  be 
changed  when  it  leaves  here,  and  set  in  the  right  principles 
of  the  everlastingly  true  things,  this  institution  is  great 
already. 

And  last  of  -all,  I  rejoice  to  congratulate  both  Presi- 
dent Baer  and  this  institution,  and  our  whole  church,  and 
the  whole  Christian  church  throughout  all  the  world,  be- 
cause this  college  is  to  be  religious  without  any  timidity 
about  its  profession.  One  of  the  most  pathetic  sights  in 
all  this  land  is  to  see  strong  men — men  otherwise  strong 
in  every  regard — moral  cowards  in  the  matter  of  their 
religious  convictions.  There  are  men  who  are  hypocrites, 
not  in  the  ordinary  sense,  because  they  believe  more  than 
they  tell  the  world  they  believe.  It  seems  to  me  we  want 
more  institutions  in  which  religion  will  not  be  everlasting- 
ly apologized  for,  in  which  it  will  not  be  compromised,  in 
which  we  will  write  it  right  on  the  front  door,  and  be 
ashamed  that  no  passerby  shall  read  it  there.  The  indi- 
vidual character  requires  religion — requires  it  in  order  to 
have  a  right  definition  of  what  character  should  be — re- 
quires it  in  order  to  have  the  power  by  which  to  attain 
that  rightly  defined  ideal;  and  the  land  as  a  whole  needs 
religion.  I  read  the  other  day  with  great  interest  an  edi- 
torial in  the  Wall  Street  Journal.  You  are  not  wont  to 
hear  the  voice  of  the  prophet  from  Wall  Street ;  but  there 
was  an  editorial  in  the  Wall  Street  Journal,  entitled,  "A 
call  to  piety."  "What  America  needs,"  says  the  editorial, 
"more  than  railway  extensions  and  western  irrigations 
and  a  low  tariff  and  a  bigger  wheat  crop  and  a  merchant 
marine  and  a  new  navy,  is  a  revival  of  piety — the  kind 
mother  and  father  used  to  have,  piety  that  counted  it  good 
business  to  stop  for  daily  prayer  before  breakfast  right  in 
the  middle  of  harvest,  that  quit  field  work  a  half  hour  ear- 

45 


Her  Thursday  night  so  as  to  get  the  chores  done  and  go 
to  prayer  meeting,  that  borrowed  money  to  pay  the  preach- 
er's salary  and  prayed  the  Heavenly  Father  in  secret  for 
the  saving  of  the  rich  man  who  looked  with  scorn  upon 
such  things."  That  is  what  we  need,  a  return  to  the 
things  that  are  everlastingly  true.  Now,  I  have  never 
been  able,  myself,  to  sing  that  the  old-time  religion  is  good 
enough  for  me,  because  I  think  we  ought  to  have  a  better 
kind  of  religion  than  that  now,  and  that  in  this,  as  in 
everything  else,  men  and  women  should  be  moving  for- 
ward to  fuller  things,  but  we  do  need  real  religion,  old  or 
new.  We  need  in  our  national  life  young  men  who  have 
a  clear  conception  of  the  absolutely  imperative  necessity  to 
our  national  well-being  of  those  great  streams  of  life  and 
power  that  can  flow  from  the  springs  of  true  religion. 

And  when  we  say  religion  we  mean  just  one  thing.  I 
rejoice  that  President  Baer  did  not  attempt  to  cover  it  all 
over  with  a  whole  lot  of  generalities.  When  we  speak 
about  religion  we  mean  Christianity.  There  is  no  use  of 
beating  about  the  bush — we  don't  stand  as  a  Christian 
college  here  for  the  ethics  of  Christianity  divorced  from 
all  else  that  is  in  religion.  We  do  not  stand  for  anything 
secondary  and  external.  When  we  say  religion  we  mean 
Christianity  as  a  great  historic  power,  as  a  religion  which 
has  its  roots  in  the  past,  from  which  you  cannot  seperate 
it — a  religion  which  is  also  a  great  living  force,  and  a 
moulder  of  human  life.  In  one  word,  as  President  Baer 
so  forcefully  put  it,  the  religion  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

On  the  walls  of  the  nation's  military  academy  at  West 
Point,  there  is  a  very  significant  marble  tablet.  You  all 
known  they  are  remodelling  the  entire  academy,  but  they 
will  leave  untouched  that  old  and  best  beloved  building  of 
the  school.  Set  all  around  the  walls  are  guns  buried  in 
the  solid  masonry,  and  right  above  the  guns  all  around, 
there  is  a  row  of  green  marble  tablets.  Each  one  of  those 
marble  tablets  contains  the  name  of  one  of  the  great  re- 
volutionary generals  in  our  war  with  Great  Britain,  and 
underneath  each  name  is  the  date  of  birth  and  the  date  of 
death.  But  there  is  one  marble  shield  that  has  only  one 
date  on  it — born  such  and  such  a  date.  It  bears  no  date  of 

46 


death.  I  came  down  through  the  aisle  of  that  chapel 
once  with  a  group  of  cadets.  And  one  of  them  stopped 
before  that  shield,  pointed  up  to  it,  and  said,  "That  is  the 
most  striking  thing  about  West  Point  to  me."  "Well," 
I  said,  "no  stranger  would  know  what  it  was."  "Yet,"  he 
said,  "that  was  Benedict  Arnold's  shield."  They  put  up 
on  the  wall  the  shield  of  Benedict  Arnold,  'and  they  wrote 
on  it  the  date  of  his  honorable  birth,  but  his  dishonorable 
death  they  refused  to  inscribe  on  the  walls  of  the  nation's 
training  school.  I  thought  as  I  looked  up  at  that  green 
marble  tablet  of  the  traitor,  who  denied  his  land,  of  those 
great  words  of  our  Saviour,  "He  that  confesseth  me  be- 
fore men,  him  will  I  also  confess  before  my  Father  which 
is  in  Heaven;  and  he  that  denieth  me  before  men,  him 
will  I  also  deny  before  my  Father  which  is  in  Heaven." 

It  is  proposed  in  this  college  that  there  should  be  no  in- 
heritance of  Benedict  Arnold's  curse.  It  is  proposed  here 
that  there  should  be  opened  up  a  foundation  of  truth,  an 
unqualified  religious  life  and  religious  faith,  so  that  out 
from  this  college  there  will  go  over  this  state,  which  is  a 
great  thing;  over  this  nation,  which  is  a  greater  thing; 
and  out  over  all  the  world,  which  is  a  greater  thing  still, 
those  great  types  of  young  men  and  women,  which  it  is 
the  business  of  colleges  to  breed  and  send  out  into  the 
world,  loving  the  things  that  are  true,  and  giving  their 
lives  to  them  for  the  love  that  they  bear  to  all  righteous- 
ness. It  is  because  we  believe  that  the  college  will  really 
try  to  do  this  that  we  rejoice  today. 


GREETINGS 

The  following  are  a  few  of  many  congratulatory  let- 
ters and  telegrams  which  were  received. 

Boston  Mass,,  Oct.  i7th,  1906. 

To  the  Trustees,  Faculty  and  Students  of  Occidental 
College : 

I  hope  your  cause  will  continue  to  prosper  in  full  glory 
like  the  blazing  stars. 

Pull  together  with  zeal,  righteousness  and  honest  pur- 


poses  and  your  battle  will  be  won  to  serve  our  common 
country  with  useful  men  and  women  from  "Occidental." 
This  is  my  earnest  wish  for  your  success. 

The  Lord  bless  your  new  President  with  health, 
strength  and  wisdom  in  his  duties,  also  bless  every  one  of 
you,  young  and  old  in  this  new  era  of  your  undertaking. 
I  regret  very  much  I  am  unable  to  be  with  you  at  the 
inauguration.  Yours  sincerely, 

ANTHONY  BAER. 


New  York,  Oct.  25,   1906. 
John  Willis  Baer,  President  Occidental  College, 

Los  Angeles,  California: 

Hopes  and  good  wishes,  large  as  all  America,  Eastern- 
ly  rich,  westernly  strenuous,  Northerly  sincere,  Southerly 
cordial,  all  yours.  OFFICERS  HOME  BOARD. 


Sacramento,  C'al,  Oct.  25. 
Rev.  PL  K.  Walker,  D.D., 

Regret  exceedinglv  that  circumstances  prevent  my  tak- 
ing part  in  inauguration  ceremonies. 

California  wishes  Dr.  Baer  and  Occidental,  all  success. 
We  need  more  such  men  and  institutions. 

GEO.  PARDEE,  Governor. 


THE   WHITE   HOUSE. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  Oct.  22,  1906. 
My  dear  Dr.  Baer: 

May  all  good  fortune  go  with  you  throughout  your 
term  as  president  of  Occidental  College. 

Sincerely  yours,     THEODORE  ROOSEVELT. 


48 


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